social area Flashcards
(18 cards)
what are the first two studies of the social area and the theme?
- milgram
- bocchiaro
theme: responses to people in authority
what is destructive obedience
obeying orders which causes harm to other individuals
what is dispositional hypothesis
culture or personality that leads to high levels of obedience and conformity
what is situational hypothesis
events take place due to the social processes operating in the situation
what is the background to Milgram?
The conformity and destructive obedience that was followed by soldiers and citizens in nazi germany
what happened before the main procedure in Milgram?
told psychology students about it and they predicted only 1.2% would follow orders and give all shocks
what was the aim for Milgram?
how obedient people would be to orders from a person in authority that would results in pain and harm to another ( how large an electric shock participants would give to a helpless man )
what was the research method for Milgram?
- controlled observation
- pre-experiment
DV: number of volts given
what was the sample for Milgram?
- 40 male
- 20-50 yrs
- American (new haven)
- recruited by news paper (4$ per hour)
- volunteer sampling
outline the procedure for Milgram
- ppts arrived at yale uni and introduced to the stooge
- both men were briefed on the supposed purpose of the experiment
- the stooge and ppts were told one would be a teacher and the other a learner. They drew straws from a hat that was rigged so that the ppts was always the teacher and the stooge the learner
- then taken to another room
- Ppts told the shock would be extremely painful but not dangerous and were given 45V shock to demonstrate
- Wall between learner and teacher so can’t see but hear
- In the room with the participants there was the experimenter
- the ppts read out word pairs to test the stooge and each time the stooge made a mistake the experimenter order the ppt to deliver a shock
- the shocks went up in 15V increments
- up to 300V the stooge did not signal anything but at 300V and 315V he pounded at the wall and then went silent and did not respond.
- ppts were always prodded by the experimenter
- they were then interviewed and debriefed
what were the results for Milgram?
- quant and qual data gathered
- 100% went up to 300V
- 65% went up to 450%
- qual was gathered in forms of comments and protests ( sweating, groaning, lip biting)
what are the conclusions for Milgram
- people are much more obedient to destructive behaviours that we might expect
- people find the experience of receiving and obeying destructive orders highly stressful. The situation triggers a conflict between to obey those in authority and not to harm people
- results support situational hypothesis
what were the explanations given my milgram?
- carried out in respectable environment
- learner and teacher volunteers so they have an obligation to experimenter
- payment
- could be unlucky and be the learner
- right to withdraw was not obvious
- told shocks were not dangerous
what was the background to Bocchiaro?
- inspired by Milgram’s research but noted that Milgram did not focus on disobedience and whistleblowing
what was the aim for Bocchiaro?
- investigate rates of obedience, disobedience, whistleblowing in a non psychically violent situation
- to investigate accuracy of peoples estimates
- to investigate the role of dispositional factors
what was the research method for Bocchiaro?
a laboratory study, or as Bocchiaro et al say a ‘scenario study’
what was the sample for Bocchiaro?
- eight pilot studies with 92 students
- 149 in main study
- 138 survyed
- from amsterdam uni
- volunteer sampling via ad in uni cafe paid either 7 euros or course credit
outline the procedure for Bocchiaro
