Situational factors affecting obedience

• what was the aim of Milgram’s study?

  To investigate obedience to authority and the willingness of participants to administer electric shocks to others.
• How many participants administered 300 volt shocks?

  all
• How many participants administered 450 volt shocks?

  65%
• How were participants encouraged to continue the study?

  prods from the authority figure - ’you have no other choice’
• what are the situational factors in obedience?

  proximity, location and uniform.
• what effect did proximity of the learner have on obedience (Milgram)?

  obedience fell when learner and teacher were in the same room, fell further when forcing learner‘s hand on shock plate.
• what effect did proximity of the authority have on obedience (Milgram)?

  majority did not obey when authority was giving orders by telephone.
• what effect did location have on obedience?

  obedience fell when the study was conducted in a run-down office not a university.
• what effect did uniform have on obedience?

  uniform acts as a symbol, conveying power and legitimacy. wearing a lab coat as opposed to casual clothes increases the likelihood of obedience.
• strength of Milgram’s study

  Has historical validity, even though it was conducted over 50 years ago, similar studies have been conducted more recently, giving very similar results (Burger 2009).
• limitation of Milgram’s study

  Lacks mundane realism thus ecological validity, because it was conducted in a lab setting, testing an obviously scientific experiment, irrelevant to the real world. Hard to generalise to the wider population.
• strength of situational variables

  research support for the power of uniform, children’s views of police authority defined by visual cues. Initial perceptions of authority are dominated by aspects of appearance rather than social status. Externally valid.
• limitation of situational variables

  proximity - irrelevance of obedience research as an explanation of motive behind atrocities. Men receiving orders to carry out mass killing of Jews did so even when given option not to. Behaviour could be due to antisemitism rather than obedience to authority.