A03 Situational Factors

• A03 Situational Factors


  -Lack internal validity - Orne & Holland

  + Support for power of uniform in obedience - Bickman

  -Hofling & proximity

  -Socially Sensitive - Mandel
• Research Support - Bickman (1974)


  P: Support for power of uniform comes from Bickman (1974).

  E: 3 confederates dressed as either security guard, milkman or a civilian stood in street & ordered people to perform different tasks e.g. give a coin for a parking meter / pick up litter

  E: Found people twice as likely to obey assistant dressed as a security guard than as a civilian. Milkman got higher rates of obedience vs civilian.

  L: This supports the conclusion that a uniform conveys the authority of its wearer & is a situational factor likely to produce obedience
• Milgram's variations lack internal validity - situational factor A03


  P: Milgram's OG experiment criticised for lacking internal validity, his variations even more criticised.

  E: Orne & Holland argued ppt knew procedure faked = could been because of extra experimental manipulations.

  E: E.G. , in variation where experimenter replaced by member of public, even Milgram recognised situation so contrived that some ppt may worked out truth.

  L: This limitation as its unclear whether results are genuinely due to obedience or due to ppt seeing through deception and acting accordingly 'play acted'.
• Socially Sensitive - A03 Situational Factors - Part 1

  P: Milgram's findings are an 'excuse' for obedience suggesting that it is the situation not the person who is held responsible. Mandel (1988) suggested that it is dangerous and insensitive to accept situational factors as a reason for obedience.

  E: A situational perspective on the Holocaust is considered offensive coz it removes personal responsibility from the perpetrators
• Social Sensitive - A03 Situational Factors - Part 2

  E: To suggest that Nazi executioners of Jews were 'only doing their duty by obeying order' implies that they were also the victim of situational pressures and that anyone faced with a similar situation would have behaved in the same way. Suggests they victims of situational factors.

  L: Milgram's situational perspective is dangerous coz it ignores roles that discrimination, racism and prejudice played in the Holocaust. Also runs the risk of trivialising genocide and thus would be deemed socially sensitive.
• Hofling & Proximity - Situational Factors A03


  P: The role of proximity can be challenged when looking at Hofling's research.

  E: In this study the nurses took orders over the phone to administer an overdose of a drug to a patient.

  E: Despite the distance between the nurse & the authority figure (Dr) 21 out of 22 nurses still obeyed.

  L: Additionally, the proximity between the nurse & the patient would have been low, further showing proximity is not important as a situational factor