situational variables affecting obedience

• milgram's aim

  to see how far one remains obedient in increasingly high pressure situations
• procedure 1

  There were 40 participants at a time over a series of conditions.There were two experimental confederates and a volunteer participant.There was a rigged draw so that the volunteer was always the teacher and the confederate was the learner.The other confederate was the experimenter. The teacher had to test the learner on their ability to remember word pairs. For each answer that was wrong ,the teacher had to administer an increasingly  powerful electric shock(15v to 450v). There was a screen between them. 
• procedure 2

  In the voice feedback study, the learner sat in a different room and gave mostly wrong answers and received fake shocks in silence until they reached the 300v level.The learner pounded the wall and gave no response to the next question.When the teacher asked to stop,the experimenter had a series of prods they would repeat e.g ’it is absolutely essential that you continue’.
• findings

  all participants continued to 300v with only 12.5% stopping at 300v and 65% of participants continued to 450v even though there were danger labels present.

  Milgram’s research demonstrated that ordinary people are astonishingly obedient even when asked to do something that goes against their own morality.His research appeared to suggest that it is not evil people who commit atrocities but ordinary people who are obeying orders.
• situational factors in obedience

  • proximity
  • location
  • uniform
• proximity

  both teacher and learner were sat in the same room.Obedience levels fell to 40% as the teacher was able to directly see the consequences of their actions.In another variation the experimenter gave instructions from a telephone in another room,the vast majority defied the experimenter with only 21% continuing to 450v and also faking the level of shocks given.In a touch proximity condition,obedience dropped to 30%.
• location

  The study was carried out at Yale university,this location gave participants confidence that the study was legit and they trusted the experimenters more.Another study was carried out at a less prestigious location in a run down office,obedience rates dropped slightly to 48% administering the 450v.
• uniform

  Uniform can convey power and authority and this impacts obedience.In the original study the experimenter wore a lab coat.In one variation the experimenter was called away and the role was taken over by someone wearing ordinary clothes.Obedience dropped to 20%.