Bocchiaro (2012) Flashcards
(34 cards)
Background of the study
-Milgrams study has given us some knowledge on obedience
-Little research into disobedience to unjust authority and reporting wrongdoing to higher authorities
Define whistleblowing
A whistleblower is a person, often an employee, who reveals information about activity within a private or public organisation that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent
Aims
-Aimed to plug gaps in prior research. Researches wanted to create a situation that gave them the options of obeying, disobeying or whistleblowing.
-They had to follow ethical guidelines, but wanted to create an engaging and ecologically valid situation
Sample
-Self-selecting
-149 undergraduate students from VU University in Amsterdam
-96f, 53m, mean age of 20.8
-Recruited by flyers in campus cafeteria offering either €7 or course credit
Procedure
What are the three things participants could have done?
-Obey and write the statement
-Disobey and refuse to write the statement
-Whistle-blow by ticking the ethics committee form and posting it
Findings/conclusions
-76.5% obeyed
-14.1% disobeyed
-9.4% were whistle-blowers
What two personality inventories did Bocchiaro have participants complete?
-HEXACO
-Social Value Orientation (SVO)
HEXACO
-Measures the six major dimensions of personality
- Honesty-Humility, Emotionality, eXtraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Openness to experience
Social Value Orientation (SVO)
-Measures preferences for patterns of outcome for oneself/others
-Prosocial orientation, Individualistic orientation, or Competitive orientation
Why did he have participants complete these personality inventories?
Too see if any specific traits linked to whistleblowing
Define open whistleblower
-Refuses to write the statement encouraging people to participate in the study and reports the study
-Open about their disapproval
Define closed whistleblower
-Reports the study but still writes the statement
-Secretive about their disapproval
How was sampling bias an issue for the study?
-Only done on students so limited age/occupation
-Ethnocentric as only done in Amsterdam, NE
-Self-selecting so participants may already be more likely to obey
-However good gender split
Comment on the construct validity of the study
-People may not have actually opposed the sensory deprivation study, which is why they didn’t report it
-May have wanted it to be conducted/suggested names of people they didn’t like to take part
Comment on the ecological validity of the study
-Bocchiaro said the situation students were put in was realistic
-Suggesting other pupils for another study
Comment on the population validity of the study
-Both male and female students used
-But on average they were quite young
Comment on the internal reliability of the study
-Standardised procedure so study can be easily replicated
-Time given to write the statement, cover story
Comment on the external reliability of the study
There were 149 students, which is enough to establish a consistent effect
Link the study to the individual-situational explanations debate
-Situational
-The presence of a perceived legitimate authority figure led them to obey
-Suggested that if they comply they may earn more money in the future
Give two similarities between the studies by Milgram and Bocchiaro
-Participants were paid to take part
-Both studies took place in university settings
Explain the similarity ‘participants were paid to take part’
-Milgram-participants were paid $4.50
-Bocchiaro-participants were paid €7
Explain the similarity ‘both studies took place in university settings’
-Milgram-the study took place at Yale University, New Haven
-Bocchiaro-the study took place at VU University Amsterdam
Give two differences between the studies by Milgram and Bocchiaro
-Studies were conducted in different places
-The gender mix of participants
