Social Influence - Situational Factors and Explanations for Obedience to Authority Flashcards
Situational factor
A feature of the environment which unintentionally affects the individual’s behaviour
Opposite of a situational factor
A dispositional factor (personality trait)
Why did Milgrim carry out multiple variations to his Shock Experiment?
In order to try and consider which situational variables would impact obedience
What situational variables were studied following Milgrim’s Shock Experiment?
Uniform
Proximity
Location
What situational factors did Milgrim study?
Proximity and location
Who studied the impact of uniform in obedience?
Bickman
Aim of Bickman’s study
To see whether obedience was affected by situational variables in a real-life setting
What research method did Bickman use?
Field experiment
Participants of Bickman’s study
153 randomly occurring participants in New York City
What uniform changes were made in Bickman’s study?
Experimenter dressed as a security guard, a milkman and in ordinary clothing
What three instructions did Bickman’s ask the members of public in his study?
“Pick up this bag for me”
“This man is over parked at the metre - give him a dime”
“Don’t you know you have to stand on the other side of this pole? It says no standing”
What percentage of participants in Bickman’s study obeyed the orders of the security guard?
76%
What percentage of participants in Bickman’s study obeyed the orders of the milkman?
47%
What percentage of participants in Brickman’s study obeyed the orders of the person in ordinary clothing?
30%
Conclusion of Bickman’s study into the impact of uniform on obedience?
People are more likely to obey people who are perceived as having legitimate authority over others
What is believed about the impact of uniform on obedience?
The way in which an individual is dressed will cause others to act differently
What was the experimenter wearing in Milgrim’s Shock Experiment?
A lab coat - very official
What did obedience drop to when the experimenter of Milgrim’s Shock Experiment was replaced by an experimenter in casual clothes?
65% to 20%
Proximity in Milgrim’s shock experiment
How physically close the teacher was to the learner/experimenter
Obedience rate when the teacher and learner were in the same room (teacher could see consequence)
45%
3 ways in which proximity was tested in Milgrim’s Shock Experiment
Teacher and learner in same room
Teacher forcing learner’s hand onto the electric shock plate if they refused to answer a question
Experimenter left the room and gave commands over the phone
When was the obedience rate 30% (proximity)?
When the teacher had to force the learner’s hand onto the electric shock plate
Obedience rate when the experimenter left the room and gave instructions via the phone
20.5%
The closer the teacher was to the authority figure, the more…
Intimidated they were and compelled to obey their orders
What did Milgrim want to find out about the location?
How the individual’s setting would influence their obedience
Where was the original shock experiment set up?
Set up in Yale University (very prestigious)
Where was the location changed to on Milgrim’s follow up study where impact of location was tested?
Location changed from Yale University to a run-down abandoned building in New York City
Obedience rate when location was changed
47.5%
