Bocchiaro Study

Question 1

Define whistle-blower.

Answer 1

Someone who exposes any kind of information or activity that is deemed illegal, dishonest or not correct within an organisation.

Question 2

What were the aims (2) of Bocchiaro’s study?

Answer 2

• To find out what people would do in response to an authority figure- obey, whistle-blow or disobey.
• To measure participant’s personalities to see if some people are more likely to whistle-blow than others.

Question 3

Describe the sample from Bocchiaro’s study.

Answer 3

• 149 students from VU university (160 before 11 were removed due to suspicion about the study)
• 96 females, 53 males
• Mean age of 20.8 years

Question 4

What were the participants given for taking part in Bocchiaro’s study?

Answer 4

7 euros or extra credit

Question 5

Describe the procedure of Bocchiaro’s study before they typed the statement.

Answer 5

They were greeted by the authority figure (stern Dutch experimenter) and were asked to give the name of someone they knew who would take part in psychological research. The experimenter described the study as traumatic. Participants were then asked to write a statement to convince their person to do the study described. They were left alone for 3 mins then taken to a computer room to type their statement- they were told not to write anything negative.

Question 6

Describe the procedure of Bocchiaro’s study from the statement writing onwards.

Answer 6

Participants were told their statement would help get the study ethical approval. They were left for 7 mins in a room with a mailbox and a research committee form that they could fill out if they wanted to report the study to the ethics committee. Participants then completed personality tests (HEXACO-PI-R and the Social Value Orientation test)

Question 7

What would make a participant a whistle-blower in Bocchiaro’s study?

Answer 7

If they filled out the ethics committee form and put it in the mailbox.

Question 8

Describe what happened after Bocchiaro’s study.

Answer 8

Participants were given a full debrief and a second consent form which had no deception.

Question 9

Describe the quantitative findings of Bocchiaro’s study.

Answer 9

• 76.5% of participants obeyed
• 14.1% refused to write the convincing statement
• 9.4% were classed as whistle-blowers

Question 10

Describe the qualitative findings of Bocchiaro’s study.

Answer 10

Obedient group- “It was expected of me”
Defiant group- “I felt responsible” (no agentic shift)
Only faith was linked to being more likely to whistle-blow.

Question 11

Describe the conclusions of Bocchiaro’s study.

Answer 11

• People cannot predict behaviours, it is determined by the situation.
• We are still very obedient to authority.

Question 12

Describe the prediction task in Bocchiaro’s study.

Answer 12

Before the study 138 people were asked “What would you do?” and “What do you think the average person would do?” 3.6% said they would obey, 64.5% said they would whistle-blow. They also predicted other people would be more likely to disobey.