Factors affecting obedience

Question 1

Situational: Momentum of Compliance which is when

Answer 1

Requests start small and trivial but increase and make the participants feel duty bound to continue ,e.g Milgram’s shocks increased with 15V

Question 2

Situational: Proximity -

Answer 2

the closer the authority figure, the higher the level of obedience

Question 3

Situational: Status of Authority

Answer 3

Authority figures must be percieved to be legit as well as the location

Question 4

Situational: Personal responsibility -

Answer 4

Milgram believed that if personal responsibiliy was removed and placed on the authority figure, obedience would be higher - variation of Milgrams -92.5%, when they knew they were responsible it was 40%

Question 5

Personality: Blame?

Answer 5

Compliant participants in follow up investigations blamed the learner 25% compared to disobedients who blamed 12%

Question 6

Personality: Locus of Control - Rotters (1966)

Answer 6

Internal LC- believe they are responsible for their own actions
External LC- believe their behaviour is beyond their control and down to fate

Question 7

Evidence for Locus of Control - Rotters (1966)

Answer 7

Blass (1991) Found some evidence that an internal locus of control links to being more resistance to obedience, however, other research has found the link to be unclear

Question 8

Personality: Authoritarian Personality - Adorno et al (1950)

Answer 8

authoritarians - submissive to authority but harsh to those seen as inferior to themselves
measured on F-Scale

Question 9

Evidence for Authoritarian Personality - Adorno et al (1950)

Answer 9

Milgram and Elms (1966) compared F scale scores for 20 obedient and 20 defiant participants involved in his experiments. Obedients had higher F scale score - indicating authoritarian personaility

Question 10

Personality: Empathy - Burger (2009)

Answer 10

In theory, those with a higher empathy level would be less likely to harm another person
Burger found that those who were more empathetic, resisted giving shocks more but weren’t less obedient

Question 11

Gender: Milgram Experiment 8 and Burger (2009)

Answer 11

40 female teachers, 65% obedience, Burger found very similar

Question 12

Gender: Sheridan and King (1972)

Answer 12

Same as Milgram but live puppy, genuine shocks, all 13 females were more compliant and gave maximum shock levels

Question 13

Gender: Blass (1999)

Answer 13

Analysed 10 studies, obedience for males and females was consistent across all studies

Question 14

Gender: Kilham and Mann (1974)

Answer 14

Direct replication of Milgram’s experiment, females 16% obedient, males 40% but females gave shocks to females and males to males so could have sympathised

Question 15

Culture: Individualistic and Collectivist Cultures?

Smith and Bond 1998

Answer 15

Individualist - UK and USA, behave more independently and resist conformity
Collectivist - China or Israel, behave as a collectivist group based on interdependence

Question 16

Culture: Blass (1999)

Answer 16

Analysed many obedience studies, found average US obedience 60.94%, other countries 65.94% Blass suggests it is one of the universals of social behaviour