Obedience

Question 1

what is obedience

Answer 1

type of social influence where someone acts in response to a direct order from another person

Question 2

explain the procedure of milgrams research

Answer 2

• 40 american male volunteers taking part in a memory study
• yale university
• worked in pairs, one as a teacher (participant) and one as a learner (confederate)
• the participants witnessed the lesrner being strapped into a chair and attached to electrodes lined to a shock generator ranging from 15 o 450 volts
• if the learner didnt repeat correctly the teacher woukd guve them a shock, moving up the scale each time

Question 3

what were the findings of milgrams research

Answer 3

• all participants gave shocks up to 300 volts
• 65% gave shocks to the maximum of 450 volts
• showed visible signs of extreme stress

Question 4

explain a study that discredits milgrams research

Answer 4

gina perry

• listened to tapes of milgrams participants
• only half of them believd he shocks were real
• this questions the validity of the research

Question 5

explain a study that supports migrams research

Answer 5

hofling et al

• studied obediant relationahips of nurses to doctors
• it was found that 21 out of 22 would break several hospital rules when told to by an unknown doctor over the phone

Question 6

what situational variables that affect obedience did milgram look into

Answer 6

• location
• proximity
• uniform

Question 7

explain how milgram researched the affect of location on obedience and what was his findings

Answer 7

• changed the location of his study from yale university to a run down office building
• obedience went from 65% to 45%

Question 8

explain how milgram researched the affect of proximity on obedience and what was his findings

Answer 8

• when the teacher could not see the learner obedience rates were 65%
• when they were i the same room this dropped to 40%
• this suggests the further away from the suffering they are causing, the more able to continue

Question 9

explain how milgram researched the affect of uniform on obedience and what was his findings

Answer 9

• milgram substituted the experimenter and his lab coat for a member of the public in their normal clothes
• this caused obedience rates to drop from 65% to 20%

Question 10

explain a study that provide evidence for the role of uniform in obedience

Answer 10

bickman

• the confederate wa either dressed in a security guards uniform, jacket and tie or a milkmans outfit
• confederates asked people to carry out requests
• people were twice as likely to obey the confederate drssed as a security guard than one dressed in a jacket and tie
• this shows uniform is an important visual cue that we recognise as a sign of legitimate authority

Question 11

what are the 3 explanations for obedience

Answer 11

• agency theory
• legitimacy of authority
• authoritarian personality

Question 12

what are the two states in the agency theory

Answer 12

• autonomous state
• agentic state

Question 13

explain the autonomous state

Answer 13

state in which people see their actions as voluntary and self directed

Question 14

explain the agentic state

Answer 14

state in which pople se themselves as being the agents of others and in which individual consciousness does not operate

Question 15

the consequence of moving from the autonomous state to the agentic state is known as the ……

Answer 15

agentic shift

Question 16

explain how the agency theory can be applied to milgrams research

Answer 16

• the autonomous state can be seen in milgrams research when the participant was choosing to give the electric shocks
• the agentic state can be seen when the participant started to refuse and one of the verbal probds were given

Question 17

explain what legitimacy of authority is

Answer 17

the idea that people are more likely to obey people they perceieve to have authority over us

Question 18

explain how milgrams research supports the legitimacy of authority explanation for obedience

Answer 18

• the authority figure wore a lab coat
• obedience fell when the experimenter was not wearing his lab coat
• supports the expkanation because it demonstrates when participants dont view the authority figure to have real legitimacy, obedience reduces

Question 19

what is the authoritarian personality

Answer 19

personality type more likely to obey

Question 20

what is used to measure the authoritarian personality

Answer 20

f-scale

Question 21

who is the main researcher into the authoritarian personality

Answer 21

adorno

Question 22

what was the procedure of adornos study

Answer 22

• studied 2000 middle clas white american and their unconscious attitudes towards other racial groups
• this was measured using the f scale

Question 23

what were the findings of adornos research into the authoritarian personality

Answer 23

• strong positive correlation between authoritarianism and prejudice
• people who scored high on the f scale showed contempt for the weak

Question 24

how is authoritatian personality formed

Answer 24

harsh childhood parenting

Question 25

expain research that supports adornos authoritarian personality

Answer 25

milgram * participants who were highly obedient in milgrams research were significantly more authoritarian on the f scale * supporting the link between authoritarian personality and obedience

Question 26

# strength give a PEELH for milgrams research

Answer 26

* P - supporting evidence * Eg - hofling et al found similiar results of milgrams where they assesed the obediant realationships between nurses and doctors. it was found 21 out of 22 nurses would break several hospital rules when being told to be an unknown doctor over the phone * Ex - the similiarity in findings to milgram suggests his research has high extneral validity as it reflects real world obedience * L - it supports the generalisability of milgrams conclusions about obedience * the studies supporting milgram lack full control over extreneous variables

Question 27

# limitation give a PEELH for milgrams research

Answer 27

* P - questioned validity of the research due to participant belief about the shocks * Eg - gina perry listened to recordings of the participanst in milgram research and found many of them believed the shocks werent real * Ex - if the participants didnt believe the shocks were genuine, their behaviour may not reflect true obedience to authority * L - this undermines the external validity of milgrams findings as the experiment may not accursately measure how people would react to real life obedience situations * H - milgrams research still provides valuable insights into the influence of authory figures on obedience

Question 28

# strength give a PEEL for the agency theory

Answer 28

* P - supportinmg evidence * Eg - milgrams research. participoants originally acted in the autonomous state where they were independantly shocking the learner however shifted to the agentic state when they became hesitant and the verbal prods were given and they transfered responsibility to the authority figure * Ex - shows that when the exdpeirment issues verbal prompts the participoants were more likely to continue adminserting shocks even when viosibily distressed * L - supports agency theory whiuch arghues people obery orders because they view themselves as agents as others and dont feel personally responsible

Question 29

# limitation give a PEEL for the agency theory

Answer 29

* P - oversimplification of human behaviour * Eg - doesnt explain why some participants in milgrams study did not fully obey. some resisted and questioned the authority figure * Ex - this suggetss there may be other factors such as persaonality that may play a role in determining obedience * L - the thory doesnt account for how or why people may disobery when authpruty figures are present and legitimate

Question 30

# strength give a PEELH for the authoritarian personality

Answer 30

* P - supporting evidence * Eg - milgrams study showed that participants who where highly obedient scored higher on the f scale * Ex - this suggetss a link between authoritarian personality and obedience rates * L - these findings support the idea that people wiht the personality are more likely to obery to authority figures

Question 31

# limitation give a PEELH for the authoritarian personality

Answer 31

* P - cultural and situational influences are not accounted for * Eg - in post war germany, many individuals followed the nazis orders despite not having authoritarian personalities * Ex - this suggests situational fa tors such as propaganmda and social poressures may be more influential than personality alone * L - the personality may be too simplistic and doesnt ake into accoutn the broader social context