Obedience to authority

• Milgram (1963) Obedience to authority: Method (1)

  • Lab experiment
  • Test whether people would obey orders to shock someone in a separate room
  • Took place in Yale university
  • 40 men responded to advert in newspaper
  • Payment given to those who attended
  • Experimenter wore a grey lab coat
  • Each P introduced to confederate
• Milgram (1963) Obedience to authority: Method (2)

  • Ps witnessed confederate been strapped to a chair and been connected to the shock generator
  • The switches range from 15 volts to 450 volts
  • Participant taught confederate word pairs over an intercom
  • When answering incorrectly a electric shock was given to the confederate
  • After a 300v shock the confederate pounded the wall and made no further response
• Milgram (1963) Obedience to authority: Results:

  • Debrief included interview and questionnaires to be reunited with the learner
  • 65% of participants administered the full 450 volts
  • Every participant gave at least 300 volts
  • Most participants showed signs of distress
• Milgram (1963) Obedience to authority: Conclusions

  • Ordinary people will obey orders to hurt someone if someone else is acting against their conscience
• Milgram (1963) Obedience to authority: Evaluation:

  • Internal validity - Could be possible Ps believed they were not inflicting electric shocks and went along with experimenter expectations
  • Ecological validity - Milgram's Ps had a task they were unlikely to encounter in real life
  • Lab experiment - good control of some variables and could establish cause and effect
• Milgram (1963) Obedience to authority: Ethics:

  • Deceived from true nature of study
  • Unable to give fully informed consent
  • Weren't informed on right to withdraw
  • Ps debriefed
  • 84% said they were pleased to have taken part
• Milgram (1963) Obedience to authority: Situational factors

  • Presence of allies - 3 teachers made the Ps less likely to disobey
  • Proximity of victim - obedience dropped from 65% to 40% when the learner and teacher were in the same room
  • Proximity of the authority - When prompts were given by phone obedience dropped to 23%
  • Location of experiment - When told experiment was done by a private company in a run-down office obedience fell to 48%
• Milgram agency theory explains obedience

  When people behave on behalf of external authority they are in an agentic state (act as one's agent instead of taking responsibility
• Milgram agency theory explains obedience

  Opposite of agentic state is acting autonomously (not following orders)
• Milgram agency theory explains obedience


  When we feel we are acting out of the wishes of another person, we feel less responsible
• Milgram agency theory explains obedience


  Some Ps were concerned with welfare of learners and asked who takes responsibility

  When experimenter said they'd take responsibility the Ps would continue
• Milgram agency theory explains obedience


  Ps voluntarily entered a social contract with the experimenter to follow the procedures of the study
• Milgram agency theory explains obedience


  Ps initially act autonomously but then become obedient in an agentic shift
• Milgram agency theory explains obedience- Binding factors


  • Reluctance to disrupt the experiment
  • Pressure of the surroundings (legitimacy of authority)
  • Insistence of the authority figure (if Ps hesitated they were told to continue)
• Evaluation of milgram's agency theory

  • Lot of experimental evidence to support it
  • Ps claimed they wouldn't have gone as far if they were by themselves
  • People resist authority due to situation or individual diffs
• Obedience on legitimacy of authority

  • Examples are parents, teachers, police and doctors
  • Defined social roles and respected
• Obedience of legitimacy of authority (Bickman 1974)

  • Field experiment
  • Researchers ordered passers-by to do something like pick up a piece of litter.
  • Dressed up as guards, milkman or smart clothes
  • People more likely to obey guard
  • Perceived as legitimate authority figure
• Authoritarian personality explain obedience Adorno:

  • Theory is dispositional explanation of obedience
  • Over-strict parenting means child obeys authority unquestioningly
• Adorno authoritarian personality - Prejudice

  • Strict parenting = child feels constrained --> aggression
  • Child is afraid they'll be disciplined if they express aggression towards their parents
  • Child is hostile to to those they see as weaker and inferior, usually minority groups
• Adorno authoritarian personality - F scale


  Measure how people develop authoritarian traits

  Research began shortly after WW2

  Try to explain characteristics of individuals could explain persecution of jews
• Adorno authoritarian personality - Evaluation

  • Elms and Milgram (66), Ps with higher score on F-scale were more willing to administer bigger electric shocks
  • Strict upbringing doesn't mean authoritarian traits cause people to be obedient
  • Milgram found situational factors like proximity and location had a bigger effect on obedience
  • Doesn't explain how whole societies become obedient