OBEDIENCE: SITUATIONAL VARIABLES

Question 1

PROXIMITY

Answer 1

• in original study, teacher and learner in adjoining rooms, so teacher could hear the learner but could not see him
• in PROXIMITY variation –> in same room
• obedience rate dropped from 65% –> 40%
  2) TOUCH PROXIMITY: teacher had to force learner’s hand onto an ‘electroshock plate’
• dropped further to 30%
  3) EXPERIMENTER LEFT ROOM - gave instructions via telephone –> reduced proximity
• further reduction to 20.5%
• ppts pretended to give shocks or gave weaker ones than ordered to

Question 2

LOCATION

Answer 2

• changed location to a run-down building instead of prestigious university setting (Yale)
• experimenter had less authority
• obedience fell to 47.5%

Question 3

UNIFORM

Answer 3

• in original study, experimenter wore a grey lab coat as a symbol of authority
• VARIATION = experimenter called away and role was taken over by an ‘ordinary member of the public’ played by a confederate in everyday clothes
• obedience rate dropped to 20% –> lowest of all variations

Question 4

AO3: RESEARCH SUPPORT

Answer 4

• other studies demonstrate the influence of these situation variables
• in a FIELD experiment, BICKMAN(1974) had 3 confederates dress in 3 diff outfits:
  1) jacket and tie
  2) a milkman’s outfit
  3) security guard’s outfit
• stood in street and asked passers-by to pick up litter
• ppl twice as likely to obey security guard than jacket and tie
• supports Milgram –> uniform conveys authority and is a situational factor likely to produce obedience
  COUNTER –> field experiment –> extraneous variables not controlled: individual differences –> may have an authoritarian personality

Question 5

AO3: LACK OF INTERNAL VALIDITY

Answer 5

• more likely that the ppts in the variation studied realised the procedure was fake due to the extra manipulation
• e.g. when the experimenter was replaced by a member of the public
• even Milgram recognised this situation was so contrived that some ppts may well have worked out the truth
• limitation of all Milgram’s studies as it is unclear whether the results are genuinely due to the operation of obedience or because the ppts saw through the DECEPTION and acted accordingly
  I&D: INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES - diff ppts used for each study, results may be due to ppts’ personality, not the situational variables.

Question 6

AO3: CROSS-CULTURAL REPLICATION

Answer 6

• findings have been replicated in other cultures
• MIRANDA ET AL (1981) found an obedience rate of over 90% amongst Spanish students
• suggests Milgram’s conclusions are not limited to American males, but are valid across cultures and applicable to females too
  HOWEVER, SMITH & BOND (1998) make the crucial point that most replications have taken place in Western, developed societies (Spain, Australia)
• not that culturally different from the USA –> premature to conclude that Milgram’s findings apply to people everywhere.