Obedience

• Who investigated obedience and when?

  Milgram (1961)
• What was the aim of Milgram's study?

  to investigate how readily people would obey to an authoritative figure
• What was the sample for Milgram's study?

  40 male american adults with varying jobs and ages ranging from 20-50
• How did Milgram recruit participants

  participants were selected through a newspaper advertisement that stated the study was about memory
• How were participants assigned roles in Milgram's study?

  a rigged draw where the true participant always got 'teacher' and the confederate always got 'learner'
• What were participants asked to do in Milgram's study?

  Administer electric shocks to the 'learner' if they answered wrong on a task involving word pairs
• What was significant about the 'shocks' used in Milgram's study?

  they increased by 15V up to 450V (lethal) - learner wasn't actually shocked
• What happened when the true participant started to hesitate when administering shocks?

  experimenter gave 'verbal prods' (e.g. "the experiment requires that you continue") to encourage them
• What were the findings of Milgram's study?

  1. no participants stopped below 300V
  2. 65% of participants continued all the way to 450V
• What were the conclusions made from Milgram's study?

  ordinary people are obedient even when asked to do something that may cause harm to others
• What variations were used in Milgram's study?

  • teacher was required to put learners hand on shock plate
  • instructions were given over the phone
  • teacher and learner in the same room -> can see reactions
  • experiment took place in run down office block
  • experimenter wore ordinary clothes
• Which variation had the biggest impact on obedience in Milgram's study?

  Uniform - experimenter wearing ordinary clothes
• Which variation had the least impact on obedience in Milgram's study?

  location - experiment performed in run down office block
• What is the evaluation for Milgram's study?

  :( biased sample -> culture + gender bias -> lacks population validity

  :( lab study -> artificial task -> lacks mundane realism

  :( ethics: right to withdraw was not made clear/actively discouraged
• What is the definition of obedience?

  complying with the demands given by an authoritative figure
• What factors explain obedience?

  situational and dispositional
• What is meant by situational factors in obedience?


  a person's behaviour is caused by something about the situation they're in
• What is meant by dispositional factors in obedience?

  a person's behaviour is caused by something about them selves such as personality
• What are the explanations of obedience?

  agentic state, legitimacy of authority, dispositional explanation
• Which of the explanations of obedience are situational?

  agentic state and legitimacy of authority
• What is meant by legitimacy of authority?

  an authoritative figure must have social power over us and be perceived as genuine in order to obey
• What is meant by agentic state?

  when the responsibility is shifted to the authoritative so you are no longer working in the autonomous state
• What is meant by the autonomous state ?

  when you are personally responsible for behaviour
• Who investigated legitimacy of authority?

  Hofling et al.

  Bickman
• What was the procedure in Hofling et al's experiment?

  nurses were called by a 'doctor' and asked to administer twice the recommended dose of a drug they hadn't heard of before the 'doctor' arrived
• What was the sample size of Hofling et al's experiment

  22 nurses
• What were the findings of Hofling et al's experiment?

  21 out of 22 nurses started to give the medicine before being stopped by another nurse nearby
• Why did the nurses in Hofling et al's experiment go through with the orders?

  they were regularly told to go against their training + rules by Drs
• What was the procedure in Bickman's experiment?

  asked passers by for a coin for a parking meter dressed in different uniforms
• What uniforms did Bickman use in his experiment?

  regular clothes, milkman, guard
• What were the findings from Bickman's experiment?

  people were twice as likely to obey to a security guard than civilian
• Who investigated agentic state?

  Milgram variation
• What % of people originally administered full voltage in Milgram's experiment?

  65%
• What change was made in the agentic state variation in Milgram's study?

  an additional confederate administered the electric shocks on behalf of the teacher -> therefore shifting out of autonomous state into agentic state
• What % of people administered the full voltage in the agentic state variation of Milgram's study?

  92.5%
• What is the evaluation for situational factors explaining obedience?

  :) research evidence: Bickman, Hofling et al

  :( agentic state can only account for some of situational obedience ->doesn't work in Hofling et al's study
• What is meant by the authoritarian personality?


  a person with an extreme respect for authority (highly likely to obey)
• Who suggested the authoritarian personality and when?

  Adorno (1950)
• What are the characteristics of someone with an authoritarian personality?

  • highly obedient to those in a higher social class
  • contemptuous to those in lower social class
  • scores high on the F scale (Fascism Scale)
  • developed from harsh parenting
• What is the F scale?

  questionnaire designed by Adorno to measure levels of authoritarian pesonality