Factors affecting obedience and dissent

Cards (20)

  • Individual differences like personality and gender
  • Personality - locus of control
    the extent people feel they are in control of their own situation and lives
    External - largely beyond their control
    Internal - believe they are responsible
  • Authoritarianism is a personality trait that is characterised by hostility to people of a different race social group age sexuality or other minority
  • Theodor Adorno created the F scale
    Milgram and elms 1966 - compared f score with 20 obedient and 20 defiant (obedience had a higher f scale and defiant showed more social responsibility)
    Dambrun and vantage 2010 - milgrams experiment using VR Which also found the same
  • Empathy
    high levels of empathy lead to lower obedience
    Burger 2009 score high on empathy were more likely to protest it did not lower obedience
  • Gender is where woman might be less obedient because they are more empathetic or more obedient as they are more likely (sterotypically) to agree to male authority
  • Female milgram study was practically identical except woman felt more identical 27.5% stopped at 300 volts simply in blass 1999 found gender obedience was consiuatnt out of 9/10 studies
  • Khilam and mann 1974 replicated milgrams study in Australia and found woman were far less obedient 16% and men were 4-%
  • Situational variable
    1.) Momentum of compliance where being it starts as small trivial requests
  • Situational variable
    2.) Proximity - the closer the authority figure the higher. when the leaner couldn't be seen or heard at all obedience rose to 100% (milgram refers as buffer)
  • Situational variable
    3.) Status of the authority figure - the highest obedience when authority figure seen as legitimate
  • Situational variable
    4.) Personal responsibility - O strongest when felt hat someone else was taking responsibility
  • Culture can also have an effect on obedience through values ideas customs and norms
  • Individualistic culture - act more independently, resisting conformity and compliance (individualism)
  • Collectivist cultures - the group as a whole , collective , interdependence , cooperation and compliance
  • Difficult to replicate now but Ancona and paryson 1968 did the study in Italy gave a higher obedience rate 80% (max shock rate 330 and only used students)
  • Slater 2006 in the uk replicated milgrams with VR and had an obedience rate of 73.9%
  • Meuss and rajjmakhers 1986 in the Netherlands psychologically abuse interviews 92% obedience
  • Schurz 1985 in Austria but with bursts of ultrasound being fully warned of complications instead 80% obedience rate
  • Blass 2012 reviewed studies in us (60.94) and else where (65.94)