Situational Obedience Variables

• What are the 3 situational factors that affect obedience?

  • Proximity
  • Location
  • Uniform
• What effect does proximity have on obedience?

  Increased proximity allows ability to psychologically distance yourself from consequences
• What effect does location have on obedience?

  Prestigious location gives legitimacy and authority and if they perceived that the experimenters shared this, pps were more obedient
• What effect does uniform have on obedience?

  In one variation, the experimenter is called away on phone call and 'normal clothes' person takes over - obedience dropped to 20%
• What are the strengths of situational variables impacting obedience?

  • Supported by Bickman (1974) - 3 confederates dressed in jacket and tie, milkman's outfit, and guards outfit asked people to pick up litter - 2x more likely to obey guard
  • Cross-cultural replication - Miranda et al (1981) found obedience increased 90% amongst Spanish students - Milgram's conclusions not limited to American males
• What are the weaknesses of variable impacting obedience?

  • Smith and Bond (1998) make the point that it is still a western society and levels of conformity were much higher in collectivist cultures - like China - than in individualistic cultures