Obedience Flashcards
(16 cards)
Explain proximity in Milgrams research
when the teacher and the learner were in the same room the teacher is less likely to obey the instructions so the obedience rates dropped from 65% to 40%
touch proximity variation is where the teacher forced the learners hand on the plate shock; obedience rates dropped to 30%
also the experiment made an excuse and left the room and provided instructions via telephone; obedience rates dropped to 20.5%
Milgrams procedure
If the teacher was unsure about leaving the experimenter would give them prods to stay in the experiment:
‘Please continue’ or ‘Please go on’
‘The experiment requires that you continue’
‘It is absolutely essential that you continue’
‘You have no other choice, you must go on’
40 male american volunteers which were randomly allocated
teacher was the one giving shocks
learner was the one receiving the shocks
there was a experiment wearing a grey lab coat
voltage machine went up to 450V
electrodes attached to learner
Milgrams findings
65% were willing to go all the way up to 450V and the rest went all the way up to 300V
ordinary people are willing to obey a legitimate of authority even if it hurts an innocent person
ALL AO3 POINTS FOR MILGRAM ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES
ADVANTAGES
BICKMAN SUPPORT - GAVE INSTRUCTIONS for people in the streets to pick up something from the floor. Bickman would wear a dress as a milkman, an ordinary citizen and a guard. Results indicated that people in the streets obeyed when he was wearing the guard dress because he was displayed as a legitimitate of authority because of the uniform. 76% obedience
HOLFING ET AL SUPPORT - 21/22 NURSES TRUST OBEYED THE DOCTOR GIVING A LETHAL DOSE WHICH WAS UNKNOWN TO THE NURSES THEY DID NOT KNOW WHAT WAS IN THE INJECTION/DOSE WHICH SHOWED THAT THEY TRUSTED THE DOCTOR BECAUSE OF THE UNIFORM VARIABLE DISPLAYING HIM AS A LEGITIMIATE OF AUTHORITIAN FIGURE
DISADVANTAGES
it lacks internal validity because Orne and Holland claimed that the task was so unrealistic and unusual that they knew the aims of the experiment so they kept on going with the experiment to help achieve the aims. DEMAND CHARACTERISTICS
ethical issues for example the ppts were decieved about the roles but Milgram then later debriefed and reassured them
LACKS ECOLOGICAL VALIDITY BECAUSE IT WAS A LAB STUDY SO IT CANT BE APPLIED TO REAL WORLD APPLICATIONS OTHER THAN LAB STUDIES AND CANT BE GENERALISED SO ITS NOT USEFUL + VALID AND NOT RELIABLE
COUNTERPOINT: it had high internal validity as the variables were controlled so it can be replicated in other lab studies
explain uniform variations in milgram
when the experimenter wearing a grey lab coat left the room and was replaced with an ordinary member of the public wearing causal, ordinary clothes; obedience rates dropped to 20%
explain location variations in milgram
milgram moved the experiment from yale university to a office building. obedience rates dropped to 48%
this is because it was a less realistic environment lacking mundane realism
what is the autonomous state
a state in which we are in control of our decisions and behaviour and therefore are responsible for our actions
what is the agentic state
a mental state of mind where we dont feel responsible for out behaviour its the opposite of autonomous
we will follow other orders
we will obey a legitimiate authority figure even if it goes against our moral beliefs
what is the agentic shift
when we go from autonomous state to agentic state
what is meant by a legitimacy of authority
we are more likely to obey someone who we perceive to have authority over us because their authority is recognised and approved by society or a social hierarchy
e.g. teachers, doctors, police
what are binding factors (agentic state)
in milgrams experiment, it became clear that the ppts wanted to stop and not to continue however they were not able to do so
they did not want to challenge someone in authority so e.g. the experiment who was keep on giving prods like “you must carry on” and “the experiment requires you to carry on”
Evaluation for Agentic state (advantages)
for example in milgrams study the participant asked the observer if the real participant was okay or if the observer took the responsibility. the observer said he took the responsibility so the participant was willing to carry on. this shows obedience and the agentic state
holfing et al
21/22 nurses obeyed the doctors order and went to use the drug
one limitation of the agentic state
it does not explain individual differences
what is the authoritian personality (adorno)
ADORNO it states that the reason why obey is because of our individual personality not because of uniform, etc
comes from harsh parenting (extremely strict parents)
parents except children to be extremely loyal
adorno procedure
2000 white middle class americans
F-scale )facism test
people who scored high on the f scale identified with the strong / high authority and people who scored low identified with the weak
authoritian evaluation
+ve
milgram and elms
40 ppts
20 obeyed to 450V
20 ppts disobeyed
completed F scale test
20 ppts who obeyed to 450V scored higher on the F scale
it was found out these 20 people who obeyed had a weak connection with their father
-ve
coleration study
cause = effect
you cannot say the authoritian personality is causing people to be more obedient because a third variable may be introduced e.g. bad education
