factors affecting obedience - social

• what four factors can affect obedience

  1 - situational factors

  2 - dispositional factors

  3 - gender

  4 - culture
• situational - status of authority

  the authority figure needs to be perceived to be legitimate if people are going to obey them
• where is status of authority seen

  in milgrams normal man gives orders variation - ppts refused to obey an 'ordinary' person as they do not seem to have authority however did obey the man in an suit as he seemed legitimate
• S - proximity of authority figure


  the closer the authority figure, the higher the level of obedience
• where is proximity of authority figure seen

  in milgrams telephonic instructions variation - increased distance between the teacher and the instructor produced less obedience than when the instructor was in the room
• S - momentum of compliance

  starting with small and seemingly trivial requests and then gradually increasing the demands - the person will feel committed as it orders escalate and duty bound to continue
• where is momentum of compliance seen

  in milgrams variations where the power of the shock increased in 15V increments
• S - personal responsibility


  people are more obedient in a situation where they feel that personal responsibility is removed from them and given to an authority figure
• where is personal responsibility shown

  in an additional milgram variation where ppts had to sign a contract saying they were to take full responsibility of their actions - obedience rates fell to 40%
• what are dispositional factors

  personality factors
• what are the two dispositional factors that can affect obedience

  1 - locus of control personality

  2 - authoritarian personality
• D - what does the locus of control theory state

  there are two personality types - external locus of control and internal locus of control
• what does a person with an external locus of control believe

  outcomes are outside their control and are decided by 'fate', despite hard work or decisions
• what do people with an internal locus of control believe

  outcomes are within their control and are determined by your hard work, attributes, or decisions
• what did milgam do

  asked 118 ppts from experiments 1-4 to judge who was responsible for the shocks the learner received
• what did milgram find about disobedient ppts

  . they were more likely to blame themselves and have an internal locus of control

  . more likely to be resistant to an authority figure and take responsibility for their actions
• what did milgram find about obedient ppts

  . they were more likely to blame others and have an external locus of control

  . more likely to be influenced by an authority figure and believe they are not responsible for their actions
• what did burger find

  ppts who scored higher on his first experiments desire for control test tended to show early reluctance and were more likely to stop the experiment than ppts with a low desire for control
• how does authoritarian personality affect obedience

  it is thought that those with authoritarian personalities will be more obedient
• what was the authoritarian affect proved by

  milgram - compared the f scale scores for 20 obedient and 20 defiant ppts - obedient clients had a higher f scale score
• Gender - what has research found of the genders

  females are more compliant than men and they can have more difficulty asserting themselves, are seen as less aggressive and more empathetic than men
• milgrams evidence for gender affecting obedience

  . carried out an experiment using 40 female ppts

  . found obedience rates were virtually identical to males = gender doesn't affect obedience

  . however women did show a higher level of anxiety
• Sheridan and king evidence for gender affecting obedience

  . told ppts to give real electric shocks to a live puppy

  . found 100% of females were fully obedient whereas only 54% of males were

  . shows gender does impact obedience
• what did Blass do

  reviewed 10 sets of results from obedience studies including milgrmas
• what did Blass find

  obedience rates between males and females were consistent in nine studies
• what was the exception Blass found

  in a replication of milgrams experiment

  . male ppts were paired with a male learner - 40% obedience

  . female ppts were paired with a female learner - 16% obedience
• what were the conclusions of Blass's results


  shows we can't just look at results but also must look at the way the studies were conducted so we know we are comparing like with like
• culture - what did blass find in his comparison of 10 obedience studies

  all the results were different from different countries
• why was this conclusion inacurate

  each experiment had used slightly different procedures meaning they can't be compared from one culture to the next
• example of the procedures being different

  in the Italian study the maximum shock level was 330v and ppts were all students - this was not the same for all the other experiments
• what two types of cultures are there

  individualistic and collectivist
• what are individualistic cultures like

  value self autonomy and self reliance
• what is obedience like in individualistic cultures

  less obedient due to the value individuals place on self determination and interdependence
• what are collectivist cultures like

  value loyalty to the group, interdependence and cooperation in pursuit of group goals
• what is obedience like in collectivist cultures

  more obedient due to the fact obligation and sense of duty to their group may override the desire to rebel