Obedience - Situational variables

• What do situational variables refer to in the context of obedience?

  They refer to things within the environment.
• How can situational variables impact obedience?

  They can affect our likelihood of obeying authority figures.
• What are the three situational variables mentioned that can impact obedience?

  Proximity, Location, Uniform
• What was the proximity condition in Milgram's original experiment?

  The teacher and learner were in separate rooms.
• Where did the original Milgram experiment take place?

  Yale University
• What was the authority figure wearing in Milgram's original experiment?

  A lab coat
• Two limitations of Situational Variables?


  • Has methodological Issues - participant may have worked out the aims as it's a lab experiment, leading to a lack of internal validity as it doesn't accurately measure obedience. However, as it's a lab experiment it is replicable, therefore can be measures for reliability
  • Can be deemed socially sensitive - suggests the Nazi's obeyed Hitler due to the environment. This means responsibility is decreased and psychology is guilty of providing excuses for the Nazi's war crimes
• One strength of situational variables?


  • obedience is supported by research by Bickman
  • He found most people obeyed authority (76%), 45% obeyed a milkman and the least amount of people obeyed a civilian (30%)
  • This suggests uniform makes people obey more - they're seen as more authoritative
  • The implication is that the idea that situational variables affects obedience is valid as the findings of the study verify the predictions it makes (environment effects obedience)
• What were the variations in the proximity experiment (Miligram)?


  • Proximity - teachers and learners were in the same room, obedience dropped to 40% due to guilt
  • Touch proximity - teacher forced the learners to put hand onto an electrical shock plate if learners refused to do it themselves, obedience dropped to 30% due to an increase in responsibility
  • Remote - experimenter gave instructions over a telephone call, obedience dropped to 20% due to less pressure
• What were the location variations in Milligram's study?


  • original experiment took place at Yale
  • A variation took place in a run down office
  • Obedience dropped to 47.5% as it seemed less authoritative and legitimate
• What were the uniform variations in Miligram's study?


  • The experimenter wore a white lab coat originally
  • In a variation, the experimenter wore normal clothes
  • Obedience dropped to 20% due to feeling like the experimenter had less authority towards them (the participant)