Situational variable affecting obedience

Question 1

What were the procedures of the Milgram study?

Answer 1

• 40 participants
• told the study was to test how punishment affects learning
• Two confederates (experimenter + man introduced as other volunteer)
• participant was always ‘teacher’, confederate always ‘learner’
• participant told to administer electric shocks (increasing in 15V increments - up to 450V) when ‘learner’ got something wrong

Question 2

What did Milgram find in his study?

Answer 2

65% continued to the maximum shock level (450V) despite generator being labelled dangerous
All participants went to 300V - only 12.5% stopping there

Question 3

What situational factors affected levels of obedience?

Answer 3

Proximity
Location
The power of uniform

Question 4

How does proximity influence obedience?

Answer 4

If ‘teacher’ and ‘learner’ were sat in same room levels of obedience fell to 40% (teacher could see learners anguish)
In a touch proximity condition, teacher forced to place learners hand on shock plate - obedience fell to 30%
If the experimenter was absent and only gave prompts down the phone - obedience rates fell to 21%

Question 5

How does location affect obedience?

Answer 5

When the same experiment was carried out in a less prestigious location (a run down office with no connections to Yale), obedience rates dropped slightly but not significantly (48% still going to max shock)

Question 6

How does the power of uniform affect conformity?

Answer 6

Bushman - a female researcher dressed up in either a police uniform, a business executive or a beggar - stopped people and told them to give change to a male researcher for an expired parking meter
uniform =72%
business executive =48%
beggar =52%
People claimed they obeyed the woman in uniform as she appeared to have authority

Question 7

Why may Milgrams research lack internal validity?

Answer 7

Due to a lack of realism
Perry (2012) discovered that many of Milgrams participants had been sceptical at the time to whether the shocks were real
Milgrams research assistant divided the group into ‘doubters’ (following demand characteristics) and ‘believers’ - found the believers were more likely to disobey the experimenter

Question 8

Why are the strengths of Milgrams study?

Answer 8

1) high internal validity -Standardised procedures making it easy to replicate
Controlled variables help isolate authority as the cause for obedience
2) real-world application - Helped explain historical atrocities (e.g., the Holocaust) and how ordinary people can commit harmful acts under pressure - supports idea of agentic state

Question 9

Whats an issue with Milgrams sample?

Answer 9

All participants were male American volunteers, aged 20–50. Results may not generalise to females, non-Western cultures, or different age groups

Question 10

What is the danger of Milgrams conclusions?

Answer 10

Mandel: Can mask the real reason but atrocities (e.g. anti-semitism in WWII) serving as an alibi and legitimating such behaviours

Question 11

How may the location of Milgrams experiment affected the findings?

Answer 11

Fromm - scientific labs act as a representative of science, a prestigious institution in Western cultures - thus people trust it
These experiments are not reflective of real-life obedience authority (more time-consuming and difficult)
e.g. genocides in Rwanda 1994 required years of manipulation + systematic dehumanisation of target group
Therefore, we cannot draw broad generalisations from Milgrams study