Obedience: Situational Variables

Question 1

After Milgram conducted his first study on obedience, he carried out a large number of what?

Answer 1

variations

Question 2

Why did Milgram carry out a large number of variations?

Answer 2

In order to consider the situational variables that might lead to more or less obedience

Question 3

True/False: In Milgram’s baseline study, the Teacher could hear and see the learner

Answer 3

False: The Teacher could hear the learner but not see him

Question 4

What was the proximity variation of Milgram’s study?

Answer 4

The teacher and learner were in the same room

Question 5

In Milgram’s proximity variation, the obedience rate increased/decreased

Answer 5

decreased

Question 6

In Milgram’s proximity variation, the obedience rate dropped from 65% to __%

Answer 6

40

Question 7

What was Milgram’s touch proximity variation?

Answer 7

The teacher had to force the Learner’s hand onto an ‘electroshock plate’ if he refused to place it there himsefl after giving a wrong answer

Question 8

What was the effect on the obedience rate in Milgram’s touch proximity variation?

Answer 8

It dropped further to 30%

Question 9

What was Milgram’s remote instruction variation?

Answer 9

The Experimenter left the room and gave instructions to the Teacher by telephone

Question 10

What was the effect on the obedience rate in Milgram’s remote instruction variation?

Answer 10

Obedience reduced to 20.5% and participants also frequently pretended to give shocks

Question 11

True/False: In Milgram’s remote instruction variation, participants frequently pretended to give shocks

Answer 11

True

Question 12

Decreased proximity in Milgram’s experiment allowed people to…

Answer 12

psychologically distance themselves from the consequences of their actions

Question 13

When the Teacher and Learner in Milgram’s baseline study were physically separated, the Teacher…

Answer 13

was less aware of the harm they were causing to another person so they were more obedient

Question 14

What did Milgram do in his location variation?

Answer 14

Conducted a variation in a run-down office block rather than in the previous Yale University setting of the baseline study

Question 15

Where did Milgram’s baseline study occur?

Answer 15

Yale University

Question 16

In Milgram’s location variation, obedience fell to __._%

Answer 16

47.5

Question 17

In Milgram’s location variation, why did obedience fall to 47.5%?

Answer 17

The previous university environment gave Milgram’s study legitimacy and authority

Question 18

In Milgram’s experiment, why were participants more obedient in the Yale University setting?

Answer 18

They perceived that the Experimenter and study had legitimacy and authority, and that obedience was expected

Question 19

True/False: In Milgram’s location variation, obedience was still quite high in the office block because the participants perceived the ‘scientific’ nature of the procedure

Answer 19

True

Question 20

In Milgram’s baseline study, the Experimenter wore…

Answer 20

a grey lab coat as a symbol of his authority

Question 21

What happened in Milgram’s uniform variation?

Answer 21

The Experimenter was called away because of an inconvenient telephone call at the start of the procedure. The role of the Experimenter was taken over by an ‘ordinary member of the public’ (a confederate) in everyday clothes rather than a lab coat

Question 22

In Milgram’s uniform variation, why did the original Experimenter leave?

Answer 22

Was called away because of an inconvenient phone call at the start of the procedure

Question 23

In Milgram’s uniform variation, who took over the role of the Experimenter?

Answer 23

An ‘ordinary member of the public’ (a confederate) in everyday clothes rather than a lab coat

Question 24

In Milgram’s uniform variation, the obedience rate dropped to __%, the lowest of these variations

Answer 24

20

Question 25

Which of Milgram's variations led to the lowest obedience rate? What was the obedience rate of this variation?

Answer 25

Uniform, 20%

Question 26

Why do uniforms encourage obedience?

Answer 26

They are widely recognised symbols of authority

Question 27

Why do we accept that someone in a uniform is entitled to expect obedience?

Answer 27

Their authority is legitimate (i.e. it is granted by society)

Question 28

Someone without a uniform has less/more right to expect our obedience

Answer 28

less

Question 29

What were Milgram's three situational variables?

Answer 29

Proximity, location and uniform

Question 30

One strength/weakness of Milgram's experiment is that other studies have demonstrated the influence of situational variables on obedience

Answer 30

strength

Question 31

What type of experiment was Bickman's obedience study in New York City?

Answer 31

Field

Question 32

Where did Bickman carry out his obedience study?

Answer 32

New York City

Question 33

In Bickman's obedience study, what was different about his three confederates?

Answer 33

They dressed in different outfits

Question 34

What were the three outfits worn in Bickman's obedience study?

Answer 34

A jacket and a tie, a milkman's outfit and a security guard's uniform

Question 35

What did the confederates in Bickman's obedience study do?

Answer 35

Individually stand in the street and ask passers by to perform tasks such as picking up litter or handing over a coin for the parking meter

Question 36

In Bickman's obedience study, confederates individually stood in the street and asked passers by to...

Answer 36

perform tasks such as picking up litter or handing over a coin for the parking meter

Question 37

Give an example of a task that confederates asked passers by to perform in Bickman's obedience study

Answer 37

Picking up litter or handing over a coin for the parking meter

Question 38

What were Bickman's findings from his obedience study?

Answer 38

People were twice as likely to obey the assistant dressed as a security guard than one dressed in a jacket and tie

Question 39

In Bickman's obedience study, people were _x as likely to obey the assistant dressed as a security guard than the one in...

Answer 39

2x, a jacket and tie

Question 40

Bickman's findings from his obedience study support/oppose the view that a situational variable, such as uniform...

Answer 40

support, does have a powerful effect on obedience

Question 41

True/False: One strength of Milgram's research is that his findings have been replicated in other cultures

Answer 41

True

Question 42

What did Meeus and Raaijmakers do?

Answer 42

Used a more realistic procedure than Milgram's to stodu obedience in Dutch participants

Question 43

What did Meeus and Raaijmakers order participants to do in their study of obedience?

Answer 43

Say stressful things in an interview to someone (a confederate) desperate for a job

Question 44

True/False: In Meeus and Raaijmakers' study, the people desperate for a job were randomly selected from the street

Answer 44

False, they were confederates

Question 45

Meeus and Raaijmakers found that __% of participants obeyed and said stressful things to a confederate desperate for a job

Answer 45

90%

Question 46

What did Meeus and Raaijmakers find regarding proximity?

Answer 46

When the person giving the orders was not present, obedience decreased dramatically

Question 47

What does Meeus and Raaijmakers' study suggest about the generalisability of Milgram's findings?

Answer 47

Milgram's findings are not just limited to Americans or men, but are valid across cultures and apply to women too

Question 48

Replications of Milgram's research are/are not very cross-cultural

Answer 48

are not

Question 49

Smith and Bond identified ___ replications between 1968 and 85 that took place where?

Answer 49

two, India and Jordan

Question 50

What is the significance of replications of Milgram's experiment being conducted in India and Jordan?

Answer 50

They are both culturally quite different from the US

Question 51

What's the problem with replications of Milgram's experiment being conducted in countries such as Spain, Australia and Scotland?

Answer 51

They are culturally quite similar to the US, e.g. they have similar notions about the role of authority

Question 52

The lack of cross-cultural replications of Milgram's experiment suggests that...

Answer 52

it may not be appropriate to conclude that Milgram's findings (including those about proximity, location and uniform) apply to people in all or most cultures

Question 53

What was Orne and Holland's criticism of Milgram's baseline study?

Answer 53

They suggested that participants may have been aware the procedure was faked

Question 54

Orne and Holland pointed out that participants in Milgram's experiment were more/less likely to have been aware that the procedure was faked in his variations

Answer 54

more

Question 55

Why did Orne and Holland suggest that participants were more likely to have been aware that Migram's procedure was faked in the variations compared to the baseline study?

Answer 55

Extra manipulation of variables

Question 56

In the variation where the experimenter is replaced by a 'member of the public', even Milgram recognised that...

Answer 56

this situation was so contrived that some participants may have worked out the truth

Question 57

In all of Milgram's studies it is unclear whether the findings are genuinely due to the operation of obedience or because the participants...

Answer 57

saw through the deception and just 'play-acted' and responded to demand characteristics

Question 58

If Milgram's participants were aware of the deception going on and just 'play-acted', what did they do?

Answer 58

Respond to demand characteristics

Question 59

Milgram's research findings support/oppose a situational explanation of obedience

Answer 59

support

Question 60

What was Mandel's criticism of Milgram's perspective?

Answer 60

He argued that it offers an excuse or 'alibi' for evil behaviour

Question 61

Why did Mandel argue that Milgram's perspective offers an excuse of 'alibi' for evil behaviour?

Answer 61

In his view, it is offensive to survivors of the Holocaust to suggest that the Nazis were simply obeying orders

Question 62

True/False: Milgram's explanation for obedience ignores the role of dispositional factors

Answer 62

True

Question 63

True/False: personality is a situational variable in Milgram's experiment

Answer 63

False: dispositional factor

Question 64

Mandel argued that Milgram's conclusions implied that Nazis were...

Answer 64

victims of situational factors beyond their control