Why do we obey?

Question 1

What is meant by obedience?

Answer 1

This is another type of social influence, when somebody behaves as instructed but does not necessarily change their opinion

You obey someone who has authority over you and perform the action to behave in the directed way

Question 2

Who researched into obedience?

Answer 2

Milgram (1963)

Question 3

What was Milgram (1963)’s aim?

Answer 3

To find out whether people obey an un-just order from a person of authority to inflict pain on another person

Question 4

What was Milgram (1963)’s procedure
*Long-Form

Answer 4

40 male volunteers between 20 and 50 paid $4.50 to take part, conducted at Yale Uni. Students were deceived and told it was a study on learning and punishment. A fixed draw was used so the participant was always the teacher and a confederate was the learner. The learners job was to memorise word pairs which he would then be tested on and indicate his answer through a system of lights. The teacher’s role was to administer a shock every time the learner made a mistake. The teacher sat in front of the shock generator that had 30 levers, each of which indicated the level of shock to be given. P’s watched learner be strapped to a chair next door. Confederate assured learner he had a heart condition and this would not cause him any harm. The teacher was given a 45v shock before starting to see what they were administering

Milgram used a standardised procedure as the learners response was a tape recording. Confederate answered correctly then began to make mistakes, which were punished by shocks, starting at 15v and going up by 15 all the way to 450. If the teacher hesitated, a number of prods were used, such as ‘please continue’ and ‘the experiment requires you to continue’.

No shocks were actually administered, and the experiment continued until the teacher refused or 450v was reached. P was then debriefed and taken to meet confederate to show they weren’t harmed

Question 5

What were Milgram (1963)’s results?

Answer 5

100% of P’s went to 300v on the shock generator, and 65% went to 450v

Most found the experience stressful and wanted to stop showing signs of anxiety. But whilst dissenting verbally they still continued

Question 6

What was Milgram (1963)’s conclusion?

Answer 6

Under certain circumstances, most people will obey orders that go against conscience. When people occupy a subordinate position in a dominance hierarchy, they become liable to lose feelings of empathy, compassion and morality, and are inclined to lose obedience

Question 7

Describe Milgram’s Participants

Answer 7

40 male volunteers between 20 and 50, paid $4.50

Question 8

How were Participants deceived?

Answer 8

They were told it was a study on learning and punishment.

Question 9

How was the draw fixed?

Answer 9

Real participant was always the teacher and confederate always the learner.

Question 10

What was the learner’s job?

Answer 10

To memorise numerous word pairs which he would be tested on, and indicate answers through a light system

Question 11

What was the teacher’s job?

Answer 11

To administer an electric shock each time the learner made a mistake

Question 12

How did they convince the participant the shocks were real?

Answer 12

By administering a 45v shock to him at the start

Question 13

How was the procedure standardised?

Answer 13

The learners response was a tape recording, so all the teacher’s responses would be a result of the same stimuli

Question 14

How long was the experiment?

Answer 14

Shocks started at 15v and went up until 450v. The experiment stopped when the teacher refused or 450v had been reached and administered 4 times

Question 15

Strengths of Milgram’s study

Answer 15

Highly controlled experiment, so we can be sure that the result of the experiment is caused by obedience as Milgram controlled extraneous variables and used a standardised procedure

Milgram conducted a full debrief with all participants to ensure they were all aware of the true aims of the study

Replications have supported Milgram’s study, In a French TV show P’s were paid to administer fake electric shocks to other participants (actors), and 80% gave 460v to an apparently unconscious man

Question 16

Limitations of Milgram’s study

Answer 16

Study lacks mundane realism, as this was not an everyday task for participants to be doing, so behaviour may not be representative of everyday situations

Lacks population validity, as it only used male volunteers between the ages of 20 and 50, which means it does not represent others outside of this bracket, and people outside of this bracket or from other cultures won’t act the same

Ethics - Milgram may have caused psychological harm as he may have made people feel as if he has actually killed somebody, and he also denied the right to withdraw without questions asked, and prodded them to continue when they tried to withdraw

Question 17

What is meant by legitimate authority?

Answer 17

Refers to the natural hierarchical leverage somebody has over others e.g a teacher over a student. In these cases people are more likely to obey. Legitimate authority requires an institution or situation to occur

Question 18

What is meant by the agentic state?

Answer 18

Sometimes referred to as the agentic shift. According to Milgram there are two states, autonomous and agentic. He states people see themselves as behaving voluntarily and aware of the consequences (autonomous), but when they see themselves as an agent of somebody else, they loose all responsibility and perform any required tasks

Question 19

Strengths of explanations of obedience

Answer 19

Support from Milgram’s study, Legitimate authority of experimenter over teacher

Can be compared to officers in Nazi Germany, who claimed they were ‘just following orders’ which demonstrates legitimate authority due to the stance of their supervisors. This increases the validity of the explanation

Question 20

Limitations of explanations of obedience

Answer 20

Hard to differentiate between legitimate authority and agentic state as they occur together in similar scenarios

Agentic state and Legitimate authority are cyclical. You obey because of agentic state and are in the agentic state because you are obedient. Therefore we cannot know what causes obedience in the first place

Agentic state doesn’t explain why people don’t obey so is only applicable in some situations