Situational Variables

• Situational variable 1/3

  • Proximity - In the baseline study, the teacher could hear the learner but couldn't see them. In the proximity variation, the teacher and learner were in the same room: obedience rate decreased from 65% to 40%. In the touch proximity variation, the teacher had to force the learners hand onto an electroshock plate: obedience dropped to 30%. In the remote instruction variation, the experimenter left the room and gave instructions to the teacher by telephone: obedience dropped to 20.5%, participants also usually pretended to give shocks.
• *Decreased proximity allows people to psychologically distance themselves from the consequences of their actions. In the baseline study, the teacher was less aware of the harm they were causing to the other person so they were more obedient.
• Situational variables 2/3

  • Location - Milgram conducted a variation in a run-down office block rather than in the Yale University setting of the baseline study. Obedience fell to 47.5%.

  * The prestigious University environment gave Milgram's study legitimacy and authority. Participants were more obedient; they perceived that the experimenter shared this legitimacy and that obedience was expected. However obedience was still high in the office block: participants perceived the scientific nature of the experiment.
• Situational variables 3/3

  • Uniform - In the baseline study the experimenters wore a grey lab coat as a symbol of authority. In one variation, the experimenter was called away due to an inconvenient telephone call at the start of the procedure. The role of the experimenter was taken over by an ordinary member of the public and obedience rate fell to 20%.
• *Uniforms encourage obedience, they're widely recognised symbols of authority. We expect that someone in a uniform is entitled to expect obedience; their authority is legitimate(granted by society ). Someone without a uniform has less right to expect our obedience.