Situational Variables affecting Obedience

• Situational Variables: Proximity


  - In Milgram's original study, teacher and learner were in different rooms, so teacher could hear learner but not see them

  - In proximity variation, they were in the same room so obedience rate dropped from 65% to 40%

  - In one variation teacher forced learner's hand onto an 'electroshock plate' when they refused to answer a question and obedience rate dropped to 30%

  - In a 3rd proximity variation, experimenter left room and gave teacher instructions over the phone and obedience was reduced to 20%
• Situational Variables: Location


  - He conducted a variation of the study in a run-down building instead of Yale university

  - The experimenter had less authority, so obedience fell to 47.5% from 65%
• Situational Variables: Uniform


  - In original study, experimenter wore a grey lab coat as a symbol of authority

  - In one variation, the experimenter was called at the start of the procedure, and his role was taken over by an 'ordinary member of the public' (confederate) in everyday clothes.

  - Obedience rate dropped to 20%, the lowest of these variations.
• Situational Variables A03: Research Support


  - 3 confederates were dressed in three different outfits - civilian outfit, a milkman's outfit and a security guard uniform

  - They stood in the street and asked people to pick up litter or give them a coin to pay for the parking meter

  - People were twice as likely to obey the security guard than the civilian

  - This supports Milgram's conclusion that a uniform conveys the authority of people and is likely to produce obedience
• Situational variables A03: Lack of internal validity

  
  

  - A criticism is that many PPs worked out that the procedure was fake due to the extra manipulation in Milgram's variations

  - A good example is the variation where the experimenter was replaced by a member of the public, as this situation was very deliberately created

  - This is a limitation because it is unclear whether the results are genuinely to to obedience or because PPs saw through the deception
• Situational variables A03: Cross-cultural replications 


  - Milgram's findings have been replicated in other cultures

  - Dutch students obedience rate was over 90% suggesting Milgram's conclusions are not limited to American males but are valid across cultures and apply to females too

  - Most replications take place in Western, developed countries (eg Spain and Australia) which are culturally not that different from the USA, so we still cannot assume that Milgram's situational variables apply to people everywhere
• Situational Variables A03: Support from agentic state

  • According to agentic state people are more likely to obey destructive orders when they can shift responsibility for their actions away from themselves
  • The theory predicts that people will obey more if they do not have to think about the consequences of their actions
  • Proximity supports this as PPs were more likely to obey if they could not see the distress of victim