bocchiaro

• background of bocchiaro

  • interested in studying process of disobedience between individuals and authority
  • whistleblowing when something unethical happens
  • build upon Milgram study on obedience
• aims of bocchiaro

  • investigate how ppl deal w unethical or unjust request

  researchers expected:

  1. ppts will be more obedient than those in Milgram's study
  2. less likely to whistle-blow than obey
  3. ppts will overestimate the tendency to disobey or blow the whistle when predicting
  4. personality characteristics won't have much effect
• sample of bocchiaro

  • 149 university undergrads from VU university of Amsterdam (96 women, 53 men)
  • self-selected sample
  • paid £7 or course credit
  • further 92 students took part in pilot tests, and 138 'comparison' students took part in initial survey to predict behaviour
• materials- bocchiaro

  • HEXACO-PI-R - testing personality traits, a likert rating scale
  • decomposed games measure- assess how much importance person places on welfare of others in relation to own
• method of bocchiaro

  pilot tests - prior to study 8 pilot tests were conducted to check:

  • procedure was believable
  • procedure was morally acceptable
  • experimenter-authority behaviour was standardised

  ethical approval

  • pilot tests necessary to ethical approval process
  • Uni of Amsterdam institutional review board approved project: had to gain informed consent, right to withdraw and confidentiality

  'comparison' students

  • group of students were given a description of study and asked to predict what they would do and what the average student would do
• procedure- bocchiaro

  • each ppt reported to a psychology lab, greeted by Dutch male experimenter (played by a confederate) who had a stern manner and was formally dressed
  • asked to provide fellow student names and explained cover story
  • ppts led into second room where there was a computer (to write the report to fellow students), the Research Committee form and a mailbox where the ppt could anonymously post the form
  • experimenter left the room for 7 minutes
  • finally experimenter asked ppt to fill in the 2 personality tests
  • lasted about 40 minutes
• debriefing in bocchiaro

  • each ppt was carefully debriefed to ensure they understood the reasons for the deception and also knew the true nature of the study
  • concerned by ppts distrusting future research so full debrief was necessary
• results of bocchiaro

  predicting behaviour - the 'comparison'

  • for themselves: obey = 3.6%, disobey = 31.9%, whistleblow = 64.5%
  • 'average' student: obey = 18.8%, disobey = 43.9%, whistleblow = 37.3%

  'real ppts' behaviour

  • obey = 76.5%, disobey = 14.1%, whistleblow = 9.4%

  personality

  • no significant difference between any of the groups in terms of the 6 personality factors measured by HEXACO-PI-R
• results of bocchiaro

  individual differences

  • no significant differences in terms of gender or religious affiliation
  • there was a significant trend with regard to faith - whistleblowers tended to have more faith than obedient or disobedient ppts
• research methods bocchiaro

  • controlled lab environment

  strengths

  • very standardised procedure - in a less controlled environment ppts might have been more likely to disobey + to the reliability
  • enabled researchers to test obedience in an ethical manner

  weaknesses

  • demand characteristics from the controlled lab environment
• sampling of bocchiaro

  • all university students and paid for study with course credit so perhaps less likely to disobey or whistleblow as researchers are professors
  • uni students more proactive than target population
  • sample included men and women - considered to reflect target population more
• ethnocentrism of bocchiaro

  • experimenter in study perceived as same ethic group as ppts - all Dutch and members of uni
  • ppts more likely to obey the experimenter than if the individual was an 'outsider'
  • can't rely findings onto other cultures/countries as only in one country
• validity and reliability of bocchiaro

  • tests that were used to measure personality characteristics reported good levels of reliability
  • HEXACO-PI-R test well established, has good levels of self-observer agreement (validity) and of internal consistency (reliability)
• data in bocchiaro

  • some results = quantitative, other results = qualitative
  • quantitative - provides direct means of assessing levels of obedience and personality traits -enables simple conclusions to be drawn
  • oversimplified explanation of complex behaviour - meaning false conclusions might be drawn
  • qualitative = the comments made by ppts during study or debriefing
  • important comments in assessing how they felt and the 'realness' of the study
• ethics of bocchiaro

  • deception - cover story, ppts lied to about true nature of the study
  • able to give informed consent
  • fully aware of right to withdraw
  • fully debriefed at end
  • before study ethical approval from the institutional review board of the uni