Obedience Flashcards
Milgrams research into obedience
Aim
To investigate if ordinary people would obey an authority figure even if figure is unjust
Procedure
40 male US participants volunteered to take part in a study of how punishment effects learning.
2 confederates an experimenter and a learner
The participant acted as a teacher and was told to administer electric shocks to the learner each time he made a mistake on learning task
The learner sitting in another room gave mainly wrong answers and received(fake) electric shocks from 15 volts going up in 15 to 300 volts. At this point the learner pounded on the wall and then gave no response to the next question.
If the teacher felt unsure, the experimenter used a sequence of verbal prods eg please continue and The experimenter requires that you continue
Findings
100% of participants obeyed up to 300 volts
12.5% of participants stopped at 300 volts
65% of participants continued to 450 volts
Participants showed signs of extreme tension. 3 participants even passed out
Conclusion
Ordinary people will obey authority even when they know that what they are doing is wrong
Evaluation of milgrams research
STRENGTHS
Reliable findings
Milgram’s study has been replicated numerous times. One example of this was the French television show ‘le jeu de la mort’. 80% of participants delivered the maximum shocks of 460 volts to an apparently unconscious man.
Supporting research/high ecological validity: hofling et al(1996) studied obedience in hospital. Nurses were asked by an authority figure to give a higher dose of an unfamiliar drug to a patient. 95% of nurses followed this order. This suggests that milgram’s research has good ecological validity
LIMITATIONS
Lack of internal validity: the participants may not have believed in the set up and guessed the electric shocks weren’t real. This means that the study was not actually testing what it intentes to test, and therefore lacks internal validity. If the participants were changing their behaviour in order to please the experimenter, this is known as demand characteristics.
Ethical issue- deception: milgram told the participants that they were involved in a study of the effects of punishment on learning. By using deception, he effectively denied the participants the right to informed consent.
Ethical issue- right to withdraw: participants were told at the start that they could withdraw at any point and keep the money. But, during the study, if they expresses a desire to leave, verbal prods were given which made this difficult.
Explanations for obedience: situational
Agentic state(situational explanation) The autonomous state- the individual assumes full responsibility for their own behaviour and action. The agentic state- the individual is acting on behalf of someone else
We are more like to obey authority when we believe that we are acting as an agent, for or on behalf of the authority figure. This effect is enhanced when the authority is legitimate and we mindlessly accept orders. As an agent state theres diffusion of responsibility. Wr switch between autonomous and agentic when in presence of someone perceived to have greater legitimate power(agentic shift).
Research support: milgram found research support for the agentic state when he varied his original experiment. He found obediene dropped to 20.5 when instruction to teacher is given through phone, rather than being in same room. Its low because the participant is in autonomous state where there is high personal responsibility. Results in increased obedience.
Real life example: Adolf eichmann who was responsible for the genocide of millions in concentration camps, stood trial for his crimes after WW2 ended. His defence was that “he was only following orders”(obeying orders of someone who is high ranked than him). Thought he was executed for his role, this shows that the defence can be and is used by those who have committed crimes.
Legitimacy of authority( situational explanation) :
Refers to the amount of social power that is held by the person giving instructions. From young age we are taught that obeying makes us more acceptable, particularly as those wifh authority may have power to punish us.
Research support: milgram found support for legitimacy of the authority explanation by investigating obedience in changed locations. If prestigious place ie yale uni then obedience is high where as if in run down office block obedience falls to 48%. This is beause people dont value the place with same integrity as in yale.
Further supporting research: milgram’s original lab experiment involved a confed(biology teacher) who played role of experimenter to create sense of legitimacy. Wore white lab coat(signalled status) obedience was 65%. This has effect on real participants obedience levels. Further research= bickamn who asked passers by to complete tasks such as pick litter. As security guard 92% obeyed. Normally dressed 58% obeyed. Shows importance of uniform.
Dispositional- personality:
Suggests that an individua has a collection of traits or dispositions that have evolved as their personality has developed throughout their childhood, possibly due to strict parenting. Means that obedience is due to individuals personality not situation.
Dispositional explanation
Authoritarian personality- extremely obedient: people with this, identify with strong people and hostile towards those who are weak.
Research into the authoritarian personality: adorno et al (1950)-
AIM: He argued that people with this personality have a tendency to be extremely obedient and had unconcious attitude towards other racial groups.
PROCEDURE: sample consisted of 2000 middle class white americans. Developed F-scale. Involved participants rating their agreement with each item on a 6 point scale from disagree strongly to agree strongly.
FINDINGS: found people who scored high on the scale identified with strong people. Those with authoritarian personality have a cognitive style where there was no fuzziness between categories of people, with fixed and distinctive stereotypes about other groups.
CONCLUSION: those with authoritarian personality have tendency to be highly obedient to authority.
Situational variables affecting obedience
PROXIMITY:
Distance between people, object can affect peoples response to an order.
IN MILGRAMS INVESTIGATION:
The teacher and learner in same room. Teacher can see distress of learner.
OBEDIENCE: 40%, 30% when close proximity
SUPPORT: throwing missile thousand miles better than killing someone in front of you.
LOCATION:
The location or setting can affect how request is viewed.
IN MILGRAMS INVESTIGATION:
Run down office, when location not as prestigious, few people obey than when in yale university.
OBEDIENCE: 48%
SUPPORT: we can make direct comparison between levels of obedience in 2 locations.
UNIFORM:
Clothing worn can affect the perception a person has of them.
MILGRAMS INVESTIGATION:
Experimenter called away and confederate acting as ordinary participant, took over role.
OBEDIENCE: 20%
SUPPORT: bickman(1974)- as security guard 92% obeyed, normal clothe 58% obeyed. Shows important of uniform.
Explanations for obedience- dispositional personality
Dispositional- personality:
Suggests that an individual has a collection of traits or dispositions that have evolved as their personality has developed throughout their childhood, possibly due to strict parenting. Means that obedience is due to individuals personality not situation.
Dispositional explanation
Authoritarian personality- extremely obedient: people with this, identify with strong people and hostile towards those who are weak.
Research into the authoritarian personality: adorno et al (1950)-
AIM: He argued that people with this personality have a tendency to be extremely obedient and had unconcious attitude towards other racial groups.
PROCEDURE: sample consisted of 2000 middle class white americans. Developed F-scale. Involved participants rating their agreement with each item on a 6 point scale from disagree strongly to agree strongly.
FINDINGS: found people who scored high on the scale identified with strong people. Those with authoritarian personality have a cognitive style where there was no fuzziness between categories of people, with fixed and distinctive stereotypes about other groups.
CONCLUSION: those with authoritarian personality have tendency to be highly obedient to authority.
EVALUATION:
Research support- milgram and elms(1966), conducted interviews with participants. Study believe that theres a link between obedience and authoritarianism. Questions in interview were designed to measure authoritarian personality. Found that those who were fully obedient and went to 450V scored high on F Scale. Provide support that authoritarian personality increases obedience. Supports the link with obedience.
Methodological criticism:
Adorno and his colleagues measured range of variables and found corretion between them. However correlation doesnt mean one causes the other. Therefore athough authoritarianism and obedience may be linked, the link is limited. Means the link is only correlational.
Over simplistic:
