social influence 1.3 Flashcards
Explanations for obedience: agentic state and legitimacy of authority, and situational variables affecting obedience including proximity and location, as investigated by Milgram, and uniform. Dispositional explanation for obedience: the Authoritarian Personality. (42 cards)
situational factor
any variable for the environment that may trigger or cause a change in behaviour
milgram’s aim
to find out whether people obey an unjust order from a person of authority to inflict pain on another person.
milgram’s procedure
-40 male volunteers aged between 20 and 50
-conducted at Yale University
-participants were deceived and told it was a memory experiment, when it was an experiment to test obedience
-fixed draw, confederate always learner, participant always teacher
-learner had to memorise word pairs which he would be tested on
-teacher had to administer a shock every time learner was wrong
-shock generator had 30 levers
-participants watched confederate be strapped into a chair next door where electrodes were attached to his arm
-confederate informed experimenter he had a heart condition and the experimenter reassured him that this would not cause any serious harm
-teacher was given a 45v shock before experiment so they were aware of what they would be administering
- Milgram used standardised procedure as learner’s response was a tape recording so all participants reactions would be a result of the same stimuli
- confederate answered correctly and then began to make mistakes
- shocks went from 15v to 450v
- teacher encouraged shocks by giving verbal prods e.g ‘You have no other choice but to continue’
- participant continued until teacher refused to continue or until 450v were reached and given 4 times
- participant was debriefed and taken to meet learner to show they weren’t harmed
milgram’s sample
40 male volunteers aged between 20 and 30
how were the participants deceived?
told it was a memory experiment
it was to test obedience
how was milgram’s procedure standardised?
learner’s response was a tape recording so all participants reactions would be a result of the same stimuli
how did the teacher encourage shocks?
verbal prods e.g. ‘you have no choice but to continue’
where was milgram’s study?
yale university
what did the shocks range from?
15v to 450v
how was the participant debriefed?
taken to meet learner to show they weren’t harmed
What were Milgram’s (1963) results?
100% went to 300v
65% went to 450v
most participants found the experience stressful and wanted to stop, showing signs of anxiety
however whilst they dissented verbally, they continued with administering shocks
how many participants went to 300v?
100%
how many participants went to 450v?
65%
milgram’s conclusion
under certain circumstances most people will obey orders that go against conscience
when people occupy a subordinate position in a dominance hierarchy, they become liable to lose feelings of empathy, compassion and morality, and are inclined towards obedience
strengths of milgram’s experiment
controlled and standardised experiment, can establish cause and effect from obedience with conformity
Debriefed participants and made sure they weren’t harmed
limitations of milgram’s experiment
Lacks mundane realism as it isn’t natural everyday task, not entirely representative
Lacks ecological validity, prestigious Yale University and may have obeyed more
Lacks population validity, male volunteers 20-50
Demand characteristics, may have guessed aim
Lack of informed consent, told it was a memory experiment. Deception may have caused harm
Participants were prodded to continue, violating their right to withdraw
May have caused psychological harm due to nature of experiment as they may have felt like they actually killed someone, harm may have not been detected in debrief
legitimate authority
the perceived right of an authority figure to have power and control over others
e.g. teacher has legitimate authority over a student.
in these cases people are more likely to obey
autonomous state
behaving independently and aware of the consequences
agentic state
where an individual carries out the orders of an authority figure
lose responsibility and perform any required tasks
agentic shift
movement from autonomous state to agentic state
process of shifting responsibility for one’s actions on to someone else
strengths of the explanations of obedience
support by Milgram can be seen as explanations from his study. legitimate authority of experimenter over teacher
it can be linked to a historical event.
the officers in Nazi Germany stated that they committed mass genocide as they were ‘just following orders’. this demonstrates legitimate authority as it shows that the officers completed the orders due to the hierarchal stance of their superiors. this therefore increases validity of the explanation
two explanations of obedience
legitimate authority
agentic state
weaknesses of the explanations of obedience
difficult to differentiate between legitimate authority and agentic state as they often occur together in similar scenarios. there may be an alternative explanation that covers both reasons
agentic state and obedience are cyclical. the explanations states that you obey because of agentic state and you are in agentic state because you are obedient. therefore, we cannot know what causes obedience in the first place
agentic state doesn’t explain why people do not obey and is therefore only applicable in certain situations
these explanations can sometimes be impacted by situational or dispositional factors . causes of obedience should be considered holistically rather than on a reductionist scale
situational factor
a factor part of the environment that may influence the results of the experiment
