What are three situational factors affecting obedience that Milgram investigated?
- proximity
- location
- uniform
what were the three variations of proximity? - how much did obedience change for each of the three variations?
same room - dropped 40%
touch proximity -dropped 30%
remote proximity - dropped 20.5-21%
How did Milgram vary the location of the study? How much did obedience change?
Yale university- 65% obeyed
Abandoned building- obedience dropped 47.5%
How did Milgram explain why obedience was higher at Yale?
Yale is often valued as prestige and a perceived legitimate location setting
How did Milgram vary the uniform study? How did obedience change?
grey lab coat- 65% obedience
plain clothes- dropped 20%
What research support is there for Milgram’s situational variables?
-Bickman (1974)
- Orne and Holland (1968)
How has Milgram’s research into situational variables been replicated in other cultures?
- Bond and Smith (1998)
How can you counter-criticise the research conducted in other cultures for the situational variables?
there are individualist cultures like America and Scotland
there are also collectivist cultures like China
Why might Milgram’s research lack internal- validity?
It isn’t likely that for example a researcher would be called away and replaced by a ‘member of the public’ making it less believable
How does Hofling et al nurses study counter Milgram’s research into the effect of proximity on obedience?
When the doctors gave the nurses the order to inject the patient with a life threatening dosage all but one nurse obeyed.
What ethical issues were present?
Deception of the participants them not knowing the real aim of the study- it can also endure stress on the nurses
What big event sparked Milgram’s interest in studying obedience, and what was the common factor amongst them all?
- Massacre at My Lai
- Abu Graib Prison
- The Holocaust and Nazi Persecution of the Jews
Define agentic state?
we don’t feel personally responsible for our behaviour as we are merely obeying a person who we perceive as higher than us
Define autonomous state?
we are independent and have control over our actions so act according to our own principles
What is the agentic state?
when given an order from an authority figure we make a agentic shift from a autonomous state to a agentic state
What are the biding factors of agentic state?
a persons morals and anxiety that leads us to obeying
What is legitimate authority and provide examples of who we normally associate to be authoritative?
its where we know our position and who is where on the social hierarchy due to socialisation.
- police- teachers- security guards
What do perceived legitimate authority figures lead us to do?
we give up our independence
what is destructive authority?
exploiting people to commit cruel and torturous acts
What did Blass and Schmidt find?
The video of the Milgram’s study was shown to psychology students and they were asked who they felt was responsible to the learners harm
- students chose ‘experimenter’
How is agentic state a limited explanation?
showed limitations in how it failed to account why some individuals disobeyed despite persistence of legitimate authority
How can this explanation of obedience explain cultural differences?
different societies are structured more or less hierarchical and children are raised to see authority figures differently
