Social Influences : Explanations for Obedience Flashcards
What was the aim for Milgram and obedience?
Aims:
- Milgram (1963) was interested in researching how far people would go in obeying an instruction if it involved harming another person.
- His research aimed to test the belief, following the Nazi atrocities, that ‘German’s are different’. He believed that in the right circumstances anyone is capable of performing an evil act
What was the procedure for Milgram and obedience?
- Volunteers were recruited for a study investigating the effects of punishment on
learning. Participants were 40 males, aged between 20 and 50, from a range of occupations. - At the beginning of the experiment they were introduced to another participant, who was actually a confederate of the experimenter. They drew straws to determine their roles – learner or teacher – although this was fixed so that the confederate was always the learner.
- The “learner” (Mr. Wallace) is then taken to an adjoining room and strapped to a chair and attached to electrodes so that he could receive shock from an electricity generator. After he has been read a list of word pairs, the “teacher” tests him by naming a word and asking the learner to recall its partner/pair from a list of four possible choices.
- The teacher is told to administer an electric shock every time the learner makes a mistake, increasing the level of shock each time. There were 30 switches on the shock generator marked from 15 volts (slight shock) to 450 (danger – severe shock). Unbeknown to the participant, no actual shocks are received by the confederate and his protests are from a taped pre-recording.
- The learner gave mainly wrong answers (on purpose) and for each of these the teacher gave him an electric shock. When the teacher refused to administer a shock the experimenter was to give a series of orders / prods to ensure they continued.
What was the results for Milgram and obedience?
- All 40 of the participants in the original study obeyed up to 300 volts
- Overall, 65% of the participants gave shocks up to 450 volts (obeyed) and 35% stopped sometime
before 450 volts. - During the study many participants showed signs of nervousness and tension including trembling,
stuttering, digging fingernails into their flesh, indicating that although they were obeying, they were not enjoying what they were doing. Three of the participants experienced seizures.
What was the conclusion for Milgram and obedience?
- Ordinary people are likely to follow orders given by an authority figure, even to the extent of killing an innocent human being. Obedience to authority is ingrained in us all from the way we are brought up.
1 Evaluation of Milgram’s research into obedience
P: The research is high in reliability.
E: The laboratory based experiment has been replicated many times and the high levels of obedience have been shown with other populations, across genders, in different eras and in different situations.
E: In one study by Hofling et al, (1966) 21 out of 22 nurses broke hospital rules by preparing to administer twice the maximum dosage of a drug to a patient after receiving a phone call from an unknown doctor
L: This shows that the findings of the original research can be trusted and can be generalised to a wide range of situations, and populations, allowing us to make valid conclusions and predictions about obedience behaviour.
2 Evaluation of Milgram’s research into obedience
Milgram’s study has been criticised for being highly unethical. As well as being deceived about the nature of the study and being pressured to continue when they wanted to quit, participants experienced a great deal of stress as a result of going through the procedure, which some believe is not acceptable, and would not be allowed by the current ethical guidelines. Coupled with these concerns, some critics of Milgram have
argued that the artificiality of the experimental situation meant
that the situation would not have seemed real to the participants
and therefore they would not have been displaying true
behaviour.
What is an agentic state?
• The state in which an individual carries out orders of another person acting as their agent with little personal responsibilities.
• Don’t feel personal consequences.
• Milgram when told full responsibility with the experimenter they continued to obey despite reservations
What is autonomous mode?
This means that we feel responsible for our own behaviour and therefore we are likely to act according to law and conscience, as we know we are accountable for our actions.
What is an agentic state ?
This occurs when the individual feels able to pass responsibility for their actions onto an authority figure. It is so called because the individual in this state regards themselves as an ‘agent’ of the authority figure and no longer feels responsible or accountable for their actions. This allows them to act in ways that would not be possible if they were in autonomous mode.
What is legitimate authority
If someone has legitimate authority they have a role that is defined by society that gives them a right to exert their control over others. We may obey these people because we trust them, or because we believe that they have the power to punish us. Legitimate authority may come from a person’s status in society, which may be conveyed by a uniform, or their position in the family structure.
1 Evaluation of explanations of obedience
There is research evidence to support the role of agentic state in obedience to authority. Film evidence and transcripts from Milgram’s study show that many of the participants were reluctant to go on with the procedure, but were more willing to do so when they were assured by the experimenter that they were not responsible for the outcomes and that the experimenter would take full responsibility if anything happened to ‘Mr. Wallace’, suggesting that they were operating in agentic mode and that this enabled them to continue with the procedure.
2 Evaluation of explanations of obedience
The research in this area has useful applications. Both Eichmann and Calley were convicted of their crimes. Their defence of ‘only following orders’ was not accepted. Therefore, if we can educate people to recognise the dangers of blind obedience to malevolent authority, and make sure people understand that they will be accountable for their actions, then we may reduce the amount of destructive obedience in society.
What is proximity?
This can refer to how close the person is to the consequences of their actions when obeying an authority figure. Milgram found that the distance between ‘Mr Wallace’ and the participant influenced the obedience rate. The further away the participant is from ‘Mr. Wallace’, the more able they are to avoid witnessing the consequences of their obedient behaviour, and therefore the more likely they are to obey.
What is location?
Location can have an effect on obedience rates because some locations increase the perceived legitimacy of the authority figure. For example, the experimenter in Milgram’s study had a high amount of perceived authority because he was attached to a very prestigious institution (Yale University). Therefore, we would expect obedience to that authority figure to be higher than if the study had have been carried out in a less prestigious institution.
What is uniform?
A uniform can give the perception of greater authority, and therefore we would expect that obedience rates would be higher if the person giving the order is wearing a uniform
