Obedience

• Obedience and Milgram

  Obedience is complying with the demands of an authority figure
• Milgram's obedience study aims:

  • His aim was to test the 'Germans are different' hypothesis, which claimed that Germans are highly obedient that Adolf Hitler could exterminated Jewish people and other minorities without the questioning of those below him.
  • To see if individuals would obey the orders of an authority figure that incurred negative consequences and went against one's moral code.
• Milgram's obedience study procedure:

  • He used 40 American males ages 20 to 50 years old.
  • Participants read out a series of pair associated word tasks, which were followed by pre-recorded answers from the learner, the real participant believing they're genuine responses.
  • For every answer that was incorrect the voltage shock increased.
  • At 150 volts the learner began to demand to be released, they became more insistent at 300 volts.
  • At 315 volts the learner screamed loudly and if the teacher seemed reluctant to continue they were encouraged to continue.
• Milgram's obedience study findings:

  • 100 % of participants carried up to 300 volts
  • The obedience rate was 62.5 %
• Ethical considerations of Milgram

  • Study exposed participants to severe stress as they believed they were harming people, ( 3 participants had seizures) this is evidence Psychological harm.
  • He said the study was concerned with memory and learning which is evidence of deception.
  • No explicit right to withdraw was given before the study started.
• Methological criticism of Milgram:

  • Androcentrism
  • External validity
  • Ecological validity
  • Cultural bias
• Explanation for Obedience

  1. The way an individual may obey an order as they see themselves as acting as an agent for an authority figure and therefore don't feel responsible is called the Agentic state.
• Explanation for obedience

  1. Autonomous state is where individuals are seen as personally responsible for their actions.
• Terms within obedience:

  1. De-individuation is a state where individuals have a lower sense of self awareness and a weaker sense of personal responsibility
• Terms within obedience:

  1. Dehumanisation is the degrading of people by lessening them of their human qualities.
• Legitimacy of authority is the degree to which individuals are seen as justified in having power over others.
• Situational variables affecting obedience:

  • Proximity is how aware individuals are of the consequences of their actions when obeying the authority figure.
  • Location such as environment's.
  • Uniforms can give a perception of added legitimacy to authority figures which increases obedience rates.