SOCIAL INFLUENCE (Obedience)

Question 1

What is the definition for Obedience?

Answer 1

A form of social influence in which an individual follows a direct order, often one issued by a person in position of authority

Question 2

Give an overview of Milgram’s Study:

Answer 2

-Milgram(1960s) wanted to know why ordinary Germans obeyed Nazi’s orders during the holocaust

• Theorists, including Adorno argued that Germans inherently possess a more obedient disposition (personality)
• However, Milgram believed that the tendency to obey authority was universal human behaviour, suggesting in right situation, most people are likely to show high obedience

Question 3

Explain Milgram’s 1963 Procedure for Obedience:

Answer 3

-Milgram advertised his obedience experiment as a memory study to avoid biasing the results .
-40 male participants were greeted by individuals they assumed were a scientist in a lab coat and a participant.
-However, these were actually confederates (actors in on the experiment following a predefined role and script

• The roles of ‘teacher’ and ‘learner’ were assigned with the setup fixed so that the real participant was always the teacher. The ‘learner’ (confederate participant) was then strapped into a chair and connected to electrodes.

-The real participant was led into another room containing a device with switches labelled from 15 to 450v, with descriptions ranging from ‘slight shock’ to ‘danger; Severe shock’
-Teachers task- to ask the learner questions and give an electric shock for each incorrect answer, escalating voltage by 15 v with each mistake.

-As (fake) shocks increased, participant could hear learner’s reaction from the other room and silence after 300 v, suggesting severe harm or even death. If participant questioned their responsibility, the scientist himself would say that he himself was responsible for the experiment

-If participant refused to continue administering shocks, scientist would encourage continuation using series of 4 scripted prompts: ‘please continue’, ‘The experiment requires that you continue’ , ‘It is absolutely essential that you continue’ and ‘you have no other choice; you must go on’

Question 4

What were the Findings of Milgram’s Study?

Answer 4

• 100% of participants shocked up to 300v
• 65% of participants continued all the way to 450v

-Milgram also collected qualitative data including observations that showed participants were visibly stressed, participants showing extreme tension, many of them were seen to ‘sweat, tremble, stutter, bite their lips, groan and dig their fingernails into their hands. Three even had ‘full-blown uncontrollable seizures’

Question 5

What did Milgram’s research suggest?

Answer 5

That the majority of people will follow orders of an authority figure even if that order will lead to harm

Question 6

After Milgram conducted his first study on obedience, what did he carry out after?

Answer 6

He carried out larger number of variations in order to consider situational variables that might effect obedience

Question 7

What were the 3 situational variables that might effect obedience?

Answer 7

-Location
-Proximity
-Uniform

Question 8

Explain the variable further : Location

Answer 8

-Milgram conducted a variation in a run down building office block rather than prestigious yale universiy setting

• Because, the Prestigious university gives the study legitimacy and authority in the eyes of participants; experimenter shares this legitimacy
• Obedience dropped to 47.5%

Question 9

Explain the variable further :
Proximity

Answer 9

In the baseline study, the teacher could hear the learner but not see him as they were in different rooms. In Milgram’s proximity variations, that was changed in a number of different ways:

In this proximity variation, the teacher and learner were in the same room. Therefore, the obedience rate dropped form original 65% to 40%

-In touch proximity variation (teacher had to force learner’s hand onto ‘electro-shock plate’ if he refused to place it there himself after giving wrong answer. Obedience dropped further to 30%

• In Remote Instruction variation (experimenter left room and gave instructions to the teacher via telephone) Obedience dropped again to 20.5%

-This explains that decreased proximity allows people to psychologically distance themselves from the consequences of their actions

Question 10

Explain the variable further :
Uniform

Answer 10

-In Milgram’s baseline study, the experimenter wore a grey lab coat as a symbol of his authority

-In this variation, experimenter was replaced by another ‘participant’ in normal everyday clothes pretending to be ordinary member of public (confederate)

-Obedience dropped to 20%

-Explains that uniform encourages obedience as they are widely recognised symbols of authority. people without uniform have less right to expect our obedience.