Obediance

Question 1

What is the autonomous state?

Answer 1

Where we are free to take responsibility for our actions and are free thinking.

Question 2

What is Milgram’s agency theory of obedience?

Answer 2

People born to obey are born to obey and obedience is need for stable society

Autonomous state- free will take responsibility for actions

Agentic state: controlled by authority figure, no responsibility for actions.

Agentic shift when we move between autonomous and agentic state

Moral strain: feeling of discomfort when we need to obey authority but feel it is wrong to do so

Question 3

What are 2 supporting evidence of the agency theory?

Answer 3

Milgrams 1965 study showed 65% of participants shocked a man at 450 volts when told to by an authority figure, showing in agentic state we will obey authority.

Hofling found 21/22 nurses obeyed authority figure over phone to administer lethal overdose of drugs to patient.

Question 4

What are 2 critising evidence agaisnt agency theory?

Answer 4

Seddikes and Jackson’s zoo study found 58% of people obeyed zoo keeper in uniform than 38% in non uniform suggesting the strength of the authority figure matters in obeying

Individual differences- doesn’t take into account factors like authoritarian personality and assume everyone acts in same way

Question 5

What were Milgrams motivations for his study of obedience?

Answer 5

Wanted to test the theory that Germans were more likely to follow authority by using average American males.

Question 6

What was Milgrams study sample for the study of Obedience?

Answer 6

40 Males from New Haven USA aged 20-50.

Question 7

How was Milgram’s study standardised?

Answer 7

Used standardised probs like “please continue” so high in reliability for studying obedience

Standardised prompts with stern manner to say if ppt wanted to leave.

Question 8

At which voltage level did Mr Wallace ‘fall silent’?

Answer 8

At 300 volts he stopped pounding on wall and shouting

At 315 Volts he fell silent

Question 9

What was the procedure of Milgram’s study?

Answer 9

40 men responded to newspaper ad. Paid $4.50. at Yale uni. Did a fixed draw to decide teacher and learner with ppt always being teacher

Mr Wallace gave pre-determined responses to word pairs

Question 10

How were the participants protected from harm by Milgram?

Answer 10

At the end of the study he debreifed the ppt about what the test was really about and showed them Mr Wallace alive and well. Interview to check up on ppts months after to see if they were okay too.

Question 11

What signs of moral strain did some of the ppts show in Milgrams study of obedience?

Answer 11

Sweating, trembling, stuttering, digging fingers into flesh,

Question 12

What were the results of Milgrams study of obedience?

Answer 12

100% up to 300V, 65% carried on to the maximum of 450V whilst 35% didn’t and were defiant.

Question 13

What was the aim of Milgrams Telephonic Instrutions experiment 7?

Answer 13

To see if how close the experimenter is to the ppt affects their obedience to authority.

Question 14

What was the procedure of the telephonic Instructions study?

Answer 14

He gave the orders over the phone after giving the instructions face to face. at start the experimenter left the room and then he gave instructions and prods over phone.

Question 15

What were the results of the Telephonic Instructions study?

Answer 15

Obedience levels dropped to 22.5% and 9/40 were wiling to give the 450V compared to 65% in original study. Ppt also lied about going up in voltage but stayed at the same level.

Question 16

What was the aim of Milgrams run down office block experiment 10?

Answer 16

See if the change to a run down office block rather than Yale uni would affect obedience levels.

Question 17

What was the procedure of the Milgram run down office block experiment?

Answer 17

He used sparsely furnished office in Bridgeport, 40 males selected by mail and were paid less than the original study. Everything else was same as original study.

Question 18

What were the results of the Milgram run down office experiment?

Answer 18

Obedience levels dropped 47.5% compared to 65% in original study. Ppts showed doubt and called study “heartless”

Question 19

What was the aim of Milgrams ordinary man gives orders experiment 13?

Answer 19

The aim was to see if obedience would change if an ordinary man was giving orders.

Question 20

What was the aim of burgers 2009 study into obedience?

Answer 20

See if Milgrams results could be replicated today, if people base behaviour of others on how to behave, and if there was any gender/personality diff in obedience.

Question 21

What is social impact theory?

Answer 21

It suggests the obedience of people are based on a number of factors due to the presence and actions of others.

Question 22

What is some supporting evidence of Social Impact theory?

Answer 22

Sedikides and Jackson found that ppts complied with Zoo keeper 58% above baseline compared to non uniformed person who was 35% above baseline. Legitimacy of authority is important when obeying.

Question 23

What is a Criticism of Social Impact Theory?

Answer 23

Hofling found 95% nurses took instructions over phone to admitted drug over maximum dose to patient. Shows people don’t need immediacy when obeying authority.

Question 24

How does the targets (people who are being influenced) affect obedience according to SIT?

Answer 24

If the people being targeted by obedience have a more authoritarian personality for example they may resist whatever is being told to them.

Question 25

How does the number of sources affect obedience according to SIT?

Answer 25

The more sources saying the same thing=more likely to influence the targets and make them be obedient.

Question 26

How does the strength of the source affect obedience according to SIT?

Answer 26

If the source is more legitimate authority figure who has status and knowledge they will have more affect on target.

Question 27

How does the Immediacy of the source affect obedience according to SIT?

Answer 27

If the source is a known figure (Parent or police etc) or is in close proximity to the target then they will have more affect.

Question 28

How does the Multipication effect of the source affect obedience according to SIT?

Answer 28

Increasing the number, strength and immediacy of the source increases social influence and makes targets more likely to obey.

uses formula f(SIN)

Question 29

How does the Divisional effect of the source affect obedience according to SIT?

Answer 29

Obedience levels will reduce if there are more targets than the source or if there is more than 3 sources.

Question 30

How could personality affect obedience?

Answer 30

Adorno’s authoritarian personality theory says ppl with this personality blindly obey ppl of higher status.

Question 31

How does culture affect obedience?

Answer 31

individualistic cultures less likely to obey than collectivist.
Miranda found 90% of students in Spain obey in Milgram’s study than 50% of UK ppts

Question 32

How was the shock generator used in Milgrams study used?

Answer 32

Sample shock of 45V given out to ppt

Generator with switches from 15-450 volts. If Wallace got answers wrong had to be shocked in intervals of 15V.

Question 33

What Qualitive data was collected in Milgram study about the participants?

Answer 33

Signs of moral strain like sweating or stuttering

Question 34

What was the procedure of Milgram’s ‘ordinary man gives orders’ study?

Answer 34

1 real person 2 confederates. Rigged draw. Experimenter told ppt to give unspecified level of shocks then confederate in normal clothes told ppt to increase shcosk by 15V.

Question 35

What was the results of Milgram’s ‘ordinary man gives orders’ study?

Answer 35

Obedience dropped from 65% in OG study to 20% suggesting orders given by ordinary man less effective as less legitimate

Question 36

What was the procedure of Burgers study?

Answer 36

Ad in newspaper paid $50, 140 applied. Could not taken 2 or more psych classes or had past abuse. Then had to do clinical interview.

70 ppts: 29 men 41 women.

Question 37

What are two strengths of Milgrams original study?

Answer 37

Used standardised prods like “you must go on” makes study more replicable and consistent

Quantative data like “65% of participants went up to 450 volts” so more objective and scientific

Question 38

What are two weaknesses of Milgrams original study?

Answer 38

Sample only used males in USA so can’t generalise results on obedience to women or other countries

There was protection from harm issues as people thought it was real- swearing and seizures- hurts psychology credibility

Question 39

What is locus of control?

Answer 39

Aspect of personal ti that explains who we assign responsibility/blame for cause of events

People with internal locus of control blame themselves so more likely to be resistant to obedience and those with external blame other so obey more

Question 40

What are 3 powers according the situational factors of obedience

Answer 40

Legitimate power: if authority is legitimate eg milgram lab coat

Reward power; held by those with certain recounts eg Milgrams paying $4.50 for research

Coercive power: threatening ppl with punishment if don’t obey like in milgram “you must go on”

Question 41

What happened in the base condition of burgers study?

Answer 41

Participants told it was about learning and memory and may be taped

Did a fixed draw so ppt was always teacher and was given test schock and shown shock generator from 15v to 150v

Learner said they had heart condition but researcher said the shocks are painful but no dangerous

At 150V teacher yelled and asked to get out and researcher used prompts to encourage ppts

Question 42

What happened in the model refusal condition of burgers stufy?

Answer 42

Followed same procedure of base condition but involved 2 confederates real ppt always teacher 2 and confederate teacher 1

The teacher began with no signs of distress until 70V and hesitateted and then refused at 90V and real ppt asked to continue

Experiment ended when ppt refused to confine or they pressed 150V and read then next word then they were debriefed and introduce to confederates

Question 43

What were the results and conclusion of burgers study?

Answer 43

Base condition 70% obedience up to 150V compared 65% in milgram

In model condition 63.3%

Little difference begeeen men (6% diff) in base control

Personality did not have significant affect on obedience levels with only those with high desire for control being less likely to obey in base donation

Concluded people obey similar level today and obidnved between genders no significant differences and seeing someone else refusing to follow instructions had no impact on obedience

Question 44

What did the experimenter wear and act like in Milgrams study?

Answer 44

Wore grey lab coat and maintained a stern manner

Question 45

What was the conclusion of Milgrams study

Answer 45

Obedience was product of situation someone’s in rather than personal characteristics as in presence of authority figure will go into agentic state even if experience moral strain