Bocchiaro (2011) Flashcards
(Bocchairo) What is the aim of this study?
This study aimed to see what people would do if they were confronted with the choice of obeying, disobeying or whistleblowing in a situation when faced with an unjust authority figure who was engaging in unethical behaviour.
(Bocchairo) Define the term ‘whistleblowing’.
A whistle-blower is a person, often an employee, who reveals information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent.
(Bocchairo) Describe the sample of this study?
The sample were recruited via self selecting. Flyers were circulated in the cafeteria of the VU University in Amsterdam offering course credit or 7 euros for participation. This collected 149 students (96f and 53m with a mean age of 20.8yrs).
(Bocchairo) Describe part 1 of the procedure.
The participants were met by a male Dutch researcher who was formally dressed with
a stern demeanor. They were told a fake cover story about
what the study was actually about and asked to give the names of a few other students who could take part in the study.
(Bocchairo) Describe part 2 of the procedure.
The participants were then told they need to write a statement to convince the students they named earlier to take part in
the sensory deprivation study. This could include extra work and money for them if they do so. The experimenter also mentions the study is under review by an Ethics committee.
(Bocchairo) Describe part 3 of the procedure.
The participants were then taken to a room with a computer to write their statement. The room also included forms for the ethics committee which participants could use to report the study for ethical breaches by completing and placing in a mailbox. They were left alone in this room for 7 minutes.
(Boacchiaro) State and explain the 3 possible responses.
- Obedient - Participants could write a statement
- Disobedient - Participants could refuse to write a statement
- Whistleblower - Participants could report the study by posting an ethics form in the mailbox.
(Bocchairo) Explain what is meant by an ‘open’ whistle-blower.
Participants refuse to write a statement and report the study (they are OPEN about their disapproval).
(Bocchairo) Explain what is meant by an ‘closed’ whistle-blower.
Participants write a statement but also report the study for ethical breaches (they are being secretive about their disapproval).
(Bocchairo) State the ‘obedient’ results for the main group.
76.5% of participants went through and wrote a statement.
(Bocchairo) State the ‘disobedient’ results for the main group.
14.1% of participants refused to write a statement.
(Bocchairo) State the ‘whistle-blower’ results for the main group.
9.4% of participants reported the study to the ethics committee.
(Bocchairo) State the ‘open whistle-blower’ results for the main group.
3.4% of participants refused to write a statement and reported the study to the ethics committee.
(Bocchairo) State the ‘closed whistle-blower’ results for the main group.
6% of participants wrote a statement and reported the study to the ethics committee
(Bocchiaro) What was the purpose of the comparison group?
Bocchiaro also asked 138 participants to imagine they were in the scenario and report what they think they would do so her could compare the results.
(Bocchairo) State the ‘obedient’ results for the comparison group.
3.6% of participants thought they would write a statement.
(Bocchairo) State the ‘disobedient’ results for the comparison group.
31.9% of participants thought they would refuse to write a statement.
(Bocchairo) State the ‘whistle-blower’ results for the comparison group.
64.5% of participants thought they would report the study to the ethics committee.
(Bocchairo) What 2 ways did Bocchairo measure personality?
HEXACO & SVO
(Bocchairo) Describe and explain HEXACO.
The HEXACO test measures 6 major dimensions of personality:
● Honesty-Humility
● Emotionality
● Extraversion
● Agreeableness
● Conscientiousness
● Openness to Experience
(Bocchairo) Describe and explain SVO.
The Social Value Orientation
(SVO) measures preferences of outcomes for oneself and
others:
● Prosocial Orientation
● Individualistic Orientation
● Competitive Orientation
(Bocchiaro) Explain the personality results.
The personality inventories revealed no new information about the personality of obedient people, but did reveal that whistleblowers tended to have more faith.
(Bocchiaro) How can the sample be seen as biased?
● Only students
● Most likely young (mean
age 20.8yrs)
● From Amsterdam, The Netherlands
(Bocchiaro) How can’t the sample be seen as biased?
● Both male and female
participants
● Not all participants would
have been from The
Netherlands
(Bocchiaro) How is this study seen as ethical? (2)
● Students volunteered to take part (gave consent) as well as after the real study was revealed.
● Participants were given a
full debrief about the sensory deprivation study not being real.
(Bocchiaro) How is this study seen as unethical? (2)
● Students were deceived about a fake study.
● Students may have felt stressed by putting their peers in a harmful scenario OR felt guilty if they were obedient.
(Bocchiaro) Explain construct validity, regarding this study.
People may not have actually opposed the sensory deprivation study:
- they may have wanted it to be conducted.
- they may have suggested names of people they didn’t like to take part.
(Bocchiaro) Explain ecological validity, regarding this study.
Bocchiaro said the situation students were put in was realistic (suggesting other pupils for another study).
(Bocchiaro) Explain population validity, regarding this study.
Both male and female participants were used but they were on average quite young.
(Bocchiaro) Describe the internal reliability, regarding this study.
The procedure was standardised (time given to write the statement, fake cover story given etc) so could be easily replicated again.
(Bocchiaro) Describe the external reliability, regarding this study.
There was 149 students so this should be enough to establish a consistent effect.
(Bocchiaro) How is this study situational? (2)
● The presence of a perceived legitimate authority figure (the experimenter in a lab coat) made them obey.
● It was suggested if they comply they may get.
(Bocchiaro) How is this study individual?
Faith was found as a characteristic that was found more in whistleblowers.
