Explainations For Obediance- Sitauional Variables Flashcards
(9 cards)
What are the situational variables
Proximity
Location
Uniform
How does proximity affect obedience
When the teacher and the learner are in the same room - obedience rate drops to 40%
Touch proximity, this is when the teacher had to force the learners hand on the ‘electroshock plate’ when he gave the wrong answer - obedience dropped to 30%
Remote instruction variation, this is when the experimenter isn’t in the room and gave instructions to the teacher over the phone. -obedience rates dropped to 20.5% as they would pretend and lie about pressing the switch.
Why did proximity impact obedience
Closer you are to the person you are hurting - this is because in the original study the teacher couldn’t see the learner in pain, and they couldn’t actually see the consequences from their actions. But when you can see the harm happen in front of you then obedience decreases.
Further away the figure of authority - perceived authority decreases with distance and reduces the pressure you feel to listen to them.
How did location affect obedience
The original baseline study was done in Yale university
However they did the same study in a rundown office building and obedience dropped to 48.5%
Why did location impact obedience
Yale uni - this prestigious university setting gave milgrams study authority
Office building - reduced authority, due to it not looking as prestigious, but obedience was still quite high due to the study having a scientific nature.
How did uniform affect obedience
In the base line study, the experimenter wore a lab coat, indicating his status of authority. Milgram experimented the power of uniform by replacing the lab coat with ordinary clothes.
Obedience dropped from 65% to 20%
Why did uniforms affect obedience
Uniforms ‘encourage’ obedience because they are recognised as symbolise of authority.
Someone without a uniform has a ‘less right’ to deliver obedience.
Strength evaluation.
P- supporting evidence for uniforms
E- a psychologist investigated this by getting 3 male actresses and dressed them up differently. One was dresses as a milkman, one was dressed as a security guard and the other was dressed in ordinary clothes. They had to ask members of the public some instructions. Results showed that 76% obeyed the guard, 47% obeyed the milkman and 30% obeyed the pedestrian
E- this shows that people are more likely to obey someone with a sense of legitimately authority and power.
P- high control over variables
E- they systematically altered one factor, at a time while keeping others constant, Milgram could directly observe how specific situational changes influenced obedience.
E- this allows for a clearer cause and effect explanation
Limitation evaluation
P- artificial
E- the particpants were asked to give an electric shock to a stranger which is something that’s highly unlikely to occur in real life.
E- this doesn’t reflect how deviance occurs in real life situations
