Milgram (1963) - Obedience To Authority

Question 1

What is obedience

Answer 1

Obedience is a type of social influence which causes a person to act in response to an order given by another person. The person who gives the order is usually a figure of authority, who has the power to punish when obedient behaviour is not forthcoming.

Question 2

Milgram results

Answer 2

-26 participants (65%) administered 450V and none stopped before administering 300V.
- most of the participants showed obvious signs of stress like sweating, groaning and trembling.

Question 3

Milgram conclusion

Answer 3

Ordinary people will obey orders to hurt someone else, even if it means acting against their conscience.

Question 4

Milgram method :

Answer 4

Milgram conducted a number of laboratory experiments to test factors thought to affect obedience. This condition tested whether people would obey orders to shock someone in a separate room. It took place at Yale University.
There were 40 male participants, who responded to a newspaper advert seeking volunteers for a study on ‘learning and memory’. They received payment for attending, which did not depend on them proceeding with the experiment.
The experimenter wore a grey technician’s coat. Each participant was introduced to a confederate (acting like a participant but who was part of the experimental set-up). They drew lots to see who would act as ‘teacher’ and ‘learner’ but this was fixed so the participant was always the teacher.
The participant witnesses the confederate being strapped into a chair and connected up to a shock generator in the next room. It did not actually give electric shocks but the participants thought it was real. The switches ranged from 15 volts to 450 volts. The participants taught the learner word-pairs over an intercom. When the learner answered incorrectly, the participant had to administer an increasing level of shock.
After the 300V shock, the learner pounded on the wall and made no further response. If participants hesitated during the process, the experimenter told them to continue.
Debriefing included an interview, questionnaires and being reunited with the ‘learner’.

Question 5

Milgram extra evaluation

Answer 5

Participants in experiment identified with the science of the study. Obedience levels fell due to participants identify less with science and more with the learner. There is no ecological validity as it was said to be for science.

Question 6

How does Proximity effect Milgram’s results

Answer 6

Obedience fell from 65% to 40% when the teacher and learner were in the same room instead of adjoining rooms.

Another example is when the teacher is required to force the learner’s hand onto an electric plate when he refused to answer a question. The condition of obedience dropped to 30%.
The condition of obedience rate dropped to 20.5% when teacher was on the phone to learner.

Question 7

How does location effect Milgram’s results

Answer 7

Original study set in a previous university study in Yale to a run-down office down town. Obedience rate went from 65% to 47.5%

Question 8

How does uniform effect Milgram’s results

Answer 8

Original study with lab coat to looking like a member of public the obedience went from 65% to 20%.

Question 9

Study from Sheridan and King proving Milgram’s realism

Answer 9

to shock a real puppy instead of a man. The study showed that 54% of males shocked the puppy to maximum level and 100% of females shocked the puppy.

Question 10

Game of Death supporting Milgram’s experiment

Answer 10

a show where 80% ppts delivered the maximum shock of 460 volts to an unconscious man.

Question 11

Holfing Nurses study

Answer 11

Nurses on hospital ward and found that levels of obedience to unjustified demands by doctors were very high. 21 out of 22 obeyed.

Question 12

Rank and Jacobson (1977) nurses experiment

Answer 12

Nurses were asked to admitted Valium, a drug that the nurses should have been familiar with. They also have doctors a name known to the nurses and they all had the chance to discuss the order with each other. In these realistic circumstances only 2 of 18 nurses obeyed doctors.

Question 13

Milgram’s experiment: ethical issues

Answer 13

Baumrind was very critical about the way Milgram deceived his participants.
-they believed they were randomly allocated the role of teach and learner
-they believe the electric shocks were real
-this level of betrayal of trust could damage the reputation of other psychologists.

Question 14

Study from Bickman and then Bushman

Answer 14

tested the ecological validity of Milgram’s work conducting an experiment with a male researcher gave direct request to 153 randomly selected pedestrians in Brooklyn.

-80% obeyed a man in a guards uniform
-40% obeyed the milkman’s uniform
-40% in civilian clothing
Bushman:
-72% women in uniform
-48% women dressed as a business executive
-52% women as beggar

Question 15

Milgram controlled variables

Answer 15

Experiment of Milgram’s was replicated in Spain where 90% of students were obedient in Milgram’s experiment. This suggests a robust phenomenon is being studied. However most replication are in Western societies.

Question 16

Milgram’s experiment negative allocations

Answer 16

Milgram is suggesting there is an obedience alibi, and implies that they were also the victims of situational pressures. There is also personal responsibility. This could then be used for Nazis

Question 17

Agentic state

Answer 17

a mental state where we feel no personal responsibility for our behaviour because we believe ourselves to be acting for an authority figure, for example, as their agent. This frees us from the demands of our conscience and allows us to obey even a destructive authority figure.

Question 18

Legitimacy of authority:

Answer 18

an explanation for obedience which suggests that we are more likely to obey people who we perceive to have authority over us. The authority is justified by the individual’s position of power within social hierarchy.

Question 19

Milgram’s agentic shift:

Answer 19

Autonomous state - the state a person is when he ‘sees himself acting on his own’

Agentic shift - the shift from autonomy (interdependence) to ‘agency’

Agentic state - the condition a person is in when he ‘sees himself as an agent for carrying out another person’s wishes’.

Question 20

Legitimate of authority
-Blass and Schmitt (2001)

Answer 20

• students who were shown a video of Milgram’s experiment blamed the experimenter
  -responsibility is due to legitimate authority
  -expert scientist

Question 21

The agent state and real-life obedience - evidence against

Answer 21

-Milgram claimed people shift between autonomous and agentic state.
-evidence against this - doctors in concentration camps in Auschwitz - carried out vile and lethal experiments on victims

Question 22

Loss of personal control - additional information

Answer 22

-Agentic shift is not only confined to obedience
-reduction in personal control - evidence of bystanders
-we see this in Zimbardo when there lack of personal control

Question 23

Obedience in the cockpit - evidence for

Answer 23

-evidence to support redefining the situation and legitimate authority.
-reviews of accident -second pilot - did not want to question authority of the lead pilot - ‘cockpit culture’
-Air Asians crack (2013)

Question 24

Dispositional:

Answer 24

Explanation of individual behaviour caused by internal characteristics that reside within the individual’s personality

Question 25

Dispositional explanations - Adorno et al (1950) : procedure

Answer 25

Measure 2000 middle class, white Americans and their unconscious attitudes towards other racial groups.
Used the F-SCALE (fascism scale): this is still used to measure authoritarian personalities.

Question 26

Dispositional explanations - Adorno et al (1950) :

Answer 26

• obedient to authority
• submissive - driven by blind respect
• inflexible with their outlook - no grey areas
• society is “going to the dogs” - need strong and powerful leaders to enforce traditional values

Question 27

Milgram and Elms (1966) - research support evaluation of dispositional factors

Answer 27

-interviewed fully obedient participants, who scored highly on the F - Scale
-is there a link between obedience and authoritarian personality?
-correlation between the variables- link between obedience, Dispositional ans situational factors.

Question 28

Extra Evaluation: Methodological problems - Dispositional factors affecting obedience

Answer 28

-measure of authoritarianism relies on self report (F-scale) data which may be invalid due to social desirability bias.
-Greenstein (1969) - F- scale is “a comedy of methodological errors” - every item is worded in the same direction -you could tick the same line of boxes down one side of the page and score as HIGH authoritarian.

Question 29

Acquiescence bias -

Answer 29

the tendency to simply agree with everything.

Question 30

Resistance to social influence:

Answer 30

the ability of people to withstand the social pressure to conform to the majority or to obey authority. This ability is influenced by situational and dispositional factors.

Question 31

Locus of control:

Answer 31

refers to the sense we each hace about what directs events in our lives. Internals believes Rhett see mostly responsible for what happens to them. Externals believe it is mainly a matter of luck or other outside forces.

Question 32

What does an ally in social support raise

Answer 32

raises the possibility there are other legitimate ways of thinking and makes them feel more confident in resisting the majority.

Question 33

Social support and resisting obedience shown in Milgram’s variation:

Answer 33

-Milgram’s variation: three individuals testing the leaner Edith 2 confederates who resisted, the result being that only 10% continued to the full shock.

• individuals are more confident I. Their ability to resist when they have an ally who is willing to authority figure.

-someone else’s disobedience acts as a model to copy - frees the conscience

Question 34

Resistance to social influence:

Answer 34

-internal LOC (locus of control) are more likely to be able to resist pressures to conform or obey
-self-confident, more achievement-oriented, higher intelligence

Question 35

Response order effecting obedience results

Answer 35

• the order of the response is important
• is an example where all participants went last people were more likely to conform when the confederate with the right answer went first as they make a social commitment to the answer.

Question 36

+ evaluation of response order based on Milgram’s experiment

Answer 36

Participants in another example to Milgram’s experiment were in groups had to produce evidence that would be used to help an oil company run a smear campaign.

If they agreed with the manager they signed a consent form for their discussion to be show in the trial.

-29 out of 33 (88%) rebelled.

Question 37

+ Evaluation research support for LOC:

Answer 37

Holland (1967) - Milgram’s baseline study:
-measured with participants were internal or external
-37% of internals did not continue to the highest shock level, compared to 23% of externals
-increased validity

However: analysed data from American LOC studies over 40 year period
-over time people have become more resistant to obedience, but also more external.

Question 38

Evaluation: cultural differences

Answer 38

Kilman and Mann (1974)- replication of Milgram’s study - Australia – 16%
- Mantell (1971)
- Germany – 85%
In some cultures authority is more likely to be accepted as legitimate and entitled to demand obedience

Question 39

What is Legitimacy of authority

Answer 39

• Perceiving someone to be in a position of social control.
• Shared expectation to have a leader.
• Their power stems from their perceived position in the social situation.
• Entered the laboratory with the expectation someone will be in charge.