Social Psychology Flashcards
What were the aims of Milgram’s (1963) original study?
- To investigate how obedient naïve ppts would be when ordered to give increasingly intense electric shocks by an authority figure.
- To test the idea that Germans were different when they carried out order to persecute Jews during the Holocaust.
What sampling method did Milgram use for the original study?
- Voluntary
- Advert in a local newspaper
Describe the sample for Milgram’s original Study
40 White males from New Haven
Ages between 20 - 50
Varying backgrounds
Where did the original Milgram study take place?
Yale University
Who did the ppts meet in Milgram’s original study?
The ‘experimenter’ (a confederate
‘Mr Wallace’ (a confederate)
What were they told the original Milgram study was collecting data for?
To see the effect of punishment on learning
What role did the ppts always play and how was this picked in the original study?
- Teacher
- They drew slips of paper, but this was rigged so they’d always pick teacher and Mr Wallace would always be the learner
What did they do to convince the ppts the shock was real?
- They gave the ppts a sample shock at 45v
- Mr Wallace was never actually shocked
What did the ppts have to do in Milgram’s Studies?
- Ask Mr Wallace a list of word pair questions
- Every time he got one wrong they had to administer an electric shock increasing in 15v intervals
How did Mr Wallace react up to 75v? Similar reactions were shown for 90v and 150v.
- No indications that the shocks were causing distress
- A little grunt
What did Mr Wallace do at 120v?
Shouted that the shocks were becoming painful
What did the experimenter and Mr Wallace do to ensure each ppts had the same experience?
They both worked to a script
What did Mr Wallace do at 150v?
Shouted that the shocks were painful and that he wanted to be let out and refused to carry on
What did Mr Wallace do at 270v?
Agonised screams
What did Mr Wallace do at 300v?
- Refused to provide any more answers
- Shrieked in agony
What happened at 330v?
No noise could be heard from Mr Wallace
What did the experimenter do to encourage the ppts to carry on in Milgram’s studies?
They had 4 promts:
“Please continue”
“The experiment requires that you continue”
“It is absolutely essential that you continue”
“You have no other choice, you must go on”
Were the ppts debriefed in Milgram’s studies?
- Yes, after the experiment, the ppts were fully debriefed.
- Milgram ensured they felt psychologically fine and that they could meet Mr Wallace to see no harm was caused.
How many ppts obeyed up to 300v in the original study?
100%
How many ppts obeyed up to 450v (highest shock) in the original study?
65%
How many ppts experienced seizures in the original study?
3
How many ppts experience nervous laughter in the original Milgram Study?
14
What was the conclusion of Milgram’s original study?
That social influence is strong and people obey orders from authority figures even if it causes distress.
What made Milgram’s original study lack generalisability?
Ethnocentric - Ppts were all white and from New Haven
Androcentric - Ppts were all male
Sampling method - Voluntary
Is the sample size of Milgram’s original study a strength or weakness?
Strength - large sample size (40 ppts)
What made the reliability of Milgram’s original study a strength?
Standardised procedure - confederates followed a script
Controls - same people were confederates
What can Milgram’s original study be applied to?
Vietnam War- Soldiers were told to kill Viet Cong people but blindly followed orders and killed 800 innocent people
This can be explained by this study as the soldiers obeyed the authority figure, the same as the 65% of ppts that continued to 450v in Milgram’s study.
Was the validity of Milgram’s original study a strength or a weakness?
- Weakness
- Poor ecological validity due to lab setting
- Poor task validity due to unusual tasks
How could the study being at Yale University affect Milgram’s original study results?
A majority of ppts would be unfamiliar with such a prestigious location and so it could have intimidated them.
What was the aim of variation 7 of Milgram’s study? How were instructions given to the ppts?
- To investigate whether the proximity of the experimenter in relation to the ppts would affect levels of obedience.
- Over the telephone
Describe the sample of variation 7 of Milgram’s study
40 White males from New Haven
What were the results of variation 7 of Milgram’s study?
22.5% obeyed to 450v
What was the conclusion of variation 7 of Milgram’s study?
The physical presence of an authority figure was an important influence.
Obedience to destructive commands is somewhat dependant on the proximity of the authority figure.
What was the aim of variation 10 of Milgram’s original study?
To see how obedience would be affected if the setting was changed to a run-down office block compared to a prestigious university lab.
Describe the sample of variation 10 of Milgram’s original study
40 white males from Bridgeport
What were the results of variation 10 of Milgram’s original study?
48% obeyed to 450v
What was the conclusion of variation 10 of Milgram’s original study?
That the setting can have a slight influence on obedience to authority, but context may play a more important part.
What was the aim for Variation 13 of Milgram’s original study?
To investigate the impact of power relations on obedience.
To see how obedience would be affected if an ordinary man gave the orders.
Describe the sample for variation 13 of Milgram’s study
20 White males from New Haven
How were roles picked for variation 13 of MIlgram’s study?
- Drew slips of paper
- Rigged so the ppts was always the teacher and the confederates always got the same roles (1 as the learner and 1 as an accomplice for the ppts)
What happened to the experimenter in variation 13 of Milgram’s study?
- They went through usual instructions (eg Strapped Mr Wallace into the chair and sample shock for ppts)
- Didn’t indicate what shock levels to use- Received a rigged phone call to leave the room
- Told them that info will be recorded and to go on with the experiment
How did the accomplice suggest to shock Mr Wallace in variation 13?
To increase the shock level one step at a time every time Mr Wallace got a question wrong. This was insisted throughout the experiment.
What were the results of variation 13 of Milgram’s study?
20% obeyed to 450v
What was the conclusion for variation 13 of Milgram’s study?
That visible authority is an important influence on obedience.
What is the agency theory?
It is the theory Milgram created following his studies on obedience.
What are the two social states that Milgram proposed?
Autonomous State and Agentic State
What is the Autonomous State?
When we act as individuals and of our own free will. We make our own decisions and we follow our conscience .We take responsibility for our actions.
What is the Agentic State?
When we give up our free will in order to follow the orders of an authority figure.We become an ‘agent’ of the authority figure and defer responsibility onto them.
What is Moral Strain?
Negative feelings we experience when pressured to do something that goes against our values and moral compass.
What happens when we experience moral strain?
We use defence mechanisms (such as denial and repression) to avoid the distress.
What does Agency theory believe about the creation of the agentic state?
The theory believes we are socialised into an agentic state from a young age.Eg: We learn to obey parents and teachers as children and become an agent to follow social rules.
Why does Agency theory believe being an agent has evolved?
To avoid conflict and enable the smooth running of a society. Milgram believed that the agentic state may have had survival value.
Name 2 strengths of Agency Theory
Milgram - all participants delivered an electric shock to 300 volts, 65% delivered shocks up to 450 volts
Hoffling et al - 21 out of 22 nurses obeyed the doctor’s orders and were about to administer an overdose of a medicine to a patient.
Name 2 weaknesses of Agency Theory
Rank and Jacobson - 16 out of 18 nurses failed to obey orders from a doctor to administer an overdose of the drug Valium.
It does not explain individual differences such as personality, gender and situation.
What situation can Agency Theory be applied to?
Holocaust and Nazi solidiers
Who proposed the Social Impact Theory?
Bibb Latané
What is Social Impact Theory?
A theory explaining social influence rather than specifically obedience.
What did Latané propose with social impact theory?
That we are greatly influenced by the actions of others. Others have the ability to persuade us, inhibit us, threaten us and support us.The results of other people’s actions change how we feel and act in response - hence it being called social impact.
In relation to Social Impact Theory, what is a target?
The people being impacted on
In relation to Social Impact Theory, what is a source?
The influencers
What 3 factors make up social forces?
Strength
Immediacy
Number
What does strength mean in relation to social forces of Social Impact Theory?
How important the source is to you| eg: the status (legitimate or referent), authority, age
What does immediacy mean in relation to social forces of Social Impact Theory?
How close the source is to the target| eg: proximity - over the phone or in person
What does number mean in relation to social forces of Social Impact Theory?
How many sources and target there are in the social situation
What is the multiplicative effect (Social Impact Theory)?
How increasing strength, immediacy or number of sources can significantly increase social impact
What is the divisional effect (Social Impact Theory)?
The power of the source diminishes when the number of targets increases
What is the Law of Diminishing Returns (Social Impact Theory)?
That social influence increases with a growing number of sources but at a decreasing rate.Once the source group is bigger than 3, each additional source has less of an influence.
Name 2 strengths of Social Impact Theory
Berkowitz, Bickman and Milgram - 1 - 15 congregates looked up at the 6th floor of a building. Although increasing the number of confederates did increase the number of passers-by that joined, the number grew smaller relative to the size of the confederate group.
Sedikedes and Jackson - conducted a field experiment in which people at a zoo were asked to stop leaning on a handrail by a ‘zoo worker’. When they were in uniform they were obeyed more than when in normal clothes.
Name 2 weaknesses of Social Impact Theory
It doesn’t account for individual differences such as some people are more resistant to social influence than others.
The theory doesn’t explain why people are influenced by others, just under heat conditions it’s more likely. So it can be considered more of a description rather than an explanatory theory.
What are the 3 main factors that affect obedience?
Individual Differences
Situation
Culture
What individual differences relating to personality affect obedience?
Empathic Concern
Authoritarianism
Locus of Control
What is Empathic Concern?
This relates to the tendency to experience emotions, such as sympathy and compassion for those in need. People with high levels of empathic concern would find it difficult to follow orders to harm others due to higher levels of compassion.
What is Authoritarianism?
Theodor Adorno came up with this personality type.Authoritarian personalities are submissive to authority figures. They take great pleasure in being the authority figure themselves and are oppressive to those they see as subordinate (weaker).Therefore more likely to be obedient due to how highly they respect authority figures.
What is an Internal Locus of Control?
The belief that you are in control of what you do and what happens to you.Take greater responsibility for their actions.Less likely to be obedient as they believe they can control their own actions.
What is an External Locus of Control?
The belief that what happens to you is determined more by the situation and people around them, circumstances they believe are out of their control.Take less responsibility for their actions.More likely to be obedient as they believe behaviour is out of their control.
Name 2 strengths of personality being an individual difference that affects obedience
Elms and Milgram - found fully obedient individuals scored higher on the F-Scale measuring authoritarianism compared to defiant ppts.
Oliner and Oliner - 406 people who protected Jews during WW2 were more likely to have a higher internal locus of control, in comparison to the 126 people who had followed Nazi orders.