Obedience Flashcards
(20 cards)
Define obedience.
A form of social influence. Whereas conformity happens without anyone being told to conform, obedience comes about when we are ordered to do something by someone with authority over us and we do as we’re told.
Briefly explain Milgrams procedure.
- advertised in a newspaper for people to take part in a memory study + 40 volunteered
- each pp drew rigged lots w a confederate to see who would be teacher and who would be learner (confederate always learner)
- confederate has to remember word pairs and was attached to electrodes in another room
- every time he got something wrong he had to have increasingly powerful electric shocks going up in 15 volt increments to 450v
- learner began to shout and pound on wall, fell silent at 315v, researcher gave series of scripted orders to continue if pp asked to stop
Briefly describe the findings and conclusions of milgrams study.
- 65% went to 450v
- all pps gave 300v
- pps showed extreme stress and anxiety
- people find it difficult to refuse to obey someone who’s authority they respect as legitimate
- when people are given orders by people with authority they enter an agentic state where they don’t feel responsible for their actions so carry on doing something they’d usually consider unacceptable.
Give 3 strengths of milgrams research.
- 1972 study w real electric shocks - 100% of female pps gave what they believed to be fatal shocks to a puppy (Milgrams study - believed it was real)
- many people in study showed anxiety showing they thought it was genuine and 70% said they believed it was
- 21/22 nurses in a hospital followed the orders of a bogus doctor who set against procedures and potentially put patients at risk
Give 2 criticisms of Milgrams study.
Many argued that pps thought the shocks weren’t real which is why obedience was so high so it doesn’t accurately reflect obedience to authority.
Lacks ecological validity as outside a lab setting results wouldn’t be the same as situation isn’t representative of normal situations
Give 5 issues and debates of Milgrams research.
Participants deceived about the purpose of the study
Not prevented from leaving but was difficult to withdraw
Couldn’t give fully informed consent because of deception
Anxiety and distress - psychological harm
Unethical because it formed the ‘obedience alibi’ meaning people are obedient because of their situation which can be used as an excuse for carrying out reprehensible behaviour (absolve themselves of responsibility for crimes against others)
Describe proximity as a situational variable affecting obedience.
Original study - 65% fully obedient (gave max voltage)
When confederate and pp in the same room - 40% fully obedient
When participant had to physically force confederates hand on - 30% obedient
When researcher left the room and gave instructions over the phone - 21% gave max voltage and many pretended to give higher shocks or gave less than ordered
Describe location as a situational variable affecting obedience.
Original study - 65% maximum voltage at Yale Uni, many said the uni gave them confidence in the legitimate authority of researcher so obeyed
In a shabby office - 48%
Describe uniform as a situational variable affecting obedience.
Original study a 65% gave full voltage - researcher wore a lab coat as a symbol of authority
Researcher called away unexpectedly and replaced by apparently ‘ordinary member of public’ - 20% obedience
Define legitimacy of authority as a situational explanation of obedience.
Most societies are structured in a hierarchal way that accepts that people in certain roles have control over situations and people and we are socialised into following their orders. They have rightful authority over us and they maintain social order. Legitimacy of authority is signalled by the wearing of a uniform. Those w authority have the ability to apply punishments. In the interest of a smooth running society, we are prepared to give up some of our own independence to trust them to give appropriate and reasonable orders.
Give 2 strengths of legitimacy of authority as an explanation of obedience.
Supported by Milgrams research as max levels of obedience were bc of the uni and uniform. When there was no uniform it went from 65 to 20%
Flight recorder evidence showed excessive obedience to captains authority - one officer reported he was aware that captain was taking a risky action but didn’t challenge him as he assumed he knew what he was doing
Describe agentic state as a situational explanation of obedience.
when we enter into an interaction with an authority figure, we feel that they have greater power than ourselves in the social hierarchy and we defer to them. We relinquish control and assume they have full responsibility for whatever they do to us. Binding factors keep us in this state and inhibit the return to autonomous state, eg. Social etiquette (socially awkward to challenge authority), don’t want to appear rude if we go against social conventions etc.
Give 2 strengths of agentic state as an explanation of obedience.
I’m milgrams study when pps asked who would be responsible for harm against mr Wallace they were told it would be the researcher so continued. When they were asked why they gave the shocks even tho they didn’t want to, they said ‘I didn’t want to, he told me to do it’
Students shown milgrams study blamed the researcher for the harm, they said he was responsible cus he had authority.
Give one criticism of agentic state as an explanation of obedience.
German Doctors in auschwitz gradually and irreversibly changed from normal drs who cared for sick people, into criminals who carried out vile and lethal experiments. Some researchers propose that rather than agentic shift it was the repeated carrying out of malevolent and aggressive acts that changed the way they behaved.
Briefly describe the authoritarian personality as a dispositional explanation of obedience and give characteristics.
Adorno - causes obedience.
Obedient, highly submissive to authority, great respect for authority, contemptuous of people with inferior social status, conventional in attitudes towards sexual orientation, gender roles and ethnic backgrounds, believing country needs strong and forceful leaders to apply traditional values like patriotism religion and family, inflexible w fixed views, uncomfortable w uncertainty.
Briefly describe the development of the authoritarian personality as suggested by Adorno et al.
- harsh parenting, represented by strict discipline, unreasonably high standards, expectations of absolute loyalty and criticism of perceived failure
- Conditional love (love only given if expectations met)
- child feels hostility and resentment to parents but can’t demonstrate these feelings because of potential punishment
- negative emotions displaced into weaker people (scapegoats) so a hatred and suspicion of those regarded inferior develops
Describe the procedure of research into the authoritarian personality.
2000 middle class white Americans 1950s
Looked at at attitudes to racial groups
Many personality tests including a test for fascism the F scale
Commonly used to measure authoritarian personality
Includes items like ‘obedience and respect for authority are the most important virtues a child should learn’
Briefly explain the findings of research into the authoritarian personality
- high for authoritarian tendencies - identified closely with ‘strong’ ppl and dismissive of ‘weak’ ppl
- conscious of their status in society and showed extreme respect, deference and servility to people w higher status
- rigid schema, no flexibility in views about categories of people using fixed stereotypes
- positive correlation between authoritarianism and prejudice.
Give one strength of the authoritarian personality as a dispositional explanation of obedience.
Milgrams and Elms interviews some of the fully obedient pps from the study and they scored high on the f scale measure suggesting a link between obedience and authoritarianism
Give 3 criticisms of the authoritarian personality as a dispositional explanation of obedience.
- only shows correlation (linked), other research suggests 3rd variable that links the two - less educated individuals are more authoritarian than better educated (lower education = more obedient)
- milgram and elms doubted the link as those who were obedient reported a happy childhood w close relationships with parents
- milgram argued that although personality influenced obedience the situational context is more important eg proximity location and uniform. This explanation doesn’t account for the variations seen
