Bickman and Hofling Flashcards
What is Bickman’s study?
Bickman (1974)
The IV is the uniform worn by authority, three levels, guard uniform, no uniform, milkman uniform. The DV was the level of obedience.
Bickman approached 153 adult pedestrians who didn’t know them and gave orders, the orders were picking up litter,
giving a man a coin for a parking meter, having to move from standing at the wrong side of a pole
89% for police , Milkman for 57%, 33% for casual clothes
Conclusion- Shows the power of certain types of uniform, dress can suggest authority, when people think someone will punish them, they are more likely to obey
What is Hofling’s study?
Field experiment of 22 night nurses, Dr Smith contacts the nurses at a psychiatric hospital and asks them to check for the drug astroten which has a maximum dosage of 10mg, when they spoke with the doctor they were told to give 20mg of the drug to a patient called Mr Jones.
The phone called ended when the nurse either (i) obeyed the doctor’s order; (ii) resisted the order; (iii) went to get advice; (iv) became upset; (v) could not find the medication; (vi) or if the call lasted longer than 10 minutes.
95% obeyed the experimenter, only one nurse questioned the identity of the researcher.
11 nurses were aware of the dosage but still administered the drug.
When other nurses were asked what they’d do in that situation, 31/33 wouldn’t comply. Hofling demonstrated that people are very unwilling to question supposed ‘authority’, even when they might have good reason to
