participant obeyed more when the experimenter was in the same room, 65%, this was reduced to 40% when the experimenter and the participants were in different rooms, and reduced a further 30% in the touch proximity variation, forced participants hand to give shocks to the learner (confederate)
situational variables - location
participants obeyed more when the study was conducted at a prestigious university, Stanford, obedience dropped to 47.5% in a run down office as the university demands authority
situational variables - uniform
participants obeyed more when the experimenter wore a lab coat than when they wore normal clothes, dropped to 20%, this is because it gives them a higher status and greater sense of authority
situational variables evaluation strengths
research support - in a field experiment by Bickman (1974) people were more likely to obey someone dressed in a suit and tie and a security guard when asking passers-by to perform tasks such as picking up litter
situational variables evaluation limitations
low internal validity as participants may have known the procedure was faked therfore its unclear whether the findings are genuine due to the operation of obedience or because they saw through the deception and 'play-acted'
