Obedience

• Obedience


  Social influence in direct response to an order from another person
• Milgram (Aim)


  To investigate whether in certain circumstances a normal person would give somebody a potentially lethal electric shock if told to by an authority figure
• Milgram (Procedure)

  Yale uni with 40 male volunteers - the participant was the teacher and the confederates were the learner and experimenter - participants were told the study was about if punishment affects learning - told to give (fake) electric shocks of increasing voltage each time learner made a mistake
• Milgram (Reactions)


  • The teacher heard pre-recorded cries of distress - at 300V there was pounding on the wall - from 315V there was silence - teacher told to continue by experimenter
• Experimenter: 'The experiment requires that you continue'
• Milgram (Findings)


  • 100% went to 300V, 65% went to the full 450V - 3 had full seizures - after debrief 84% were glad they participated
• Predicted percentage for 450V was 3%
• Milgram (Conclusion)


  Ordinary people are obedient to authority, even when asked to behave in an inhumane manner
• Milgram Limitations


  • Ethical issues (deception, protection from psychological harm)
• Hofling et al - nurses on a ward obeyed unjust demands by doctors (21/22)
• Orne and Holland - participants didn't believe the set-up of Milgram's study, with the experimenter being calm throughout leading participants to suppose there was no harm
• Milgram's situational variables


  • Proximity
  • Uniform
  • Location
• Proximity variable


  1. T and L in same room = obedience drops to 40%

  2. T and L touching = obedience drops to 30%

  3. E giving instructions over the phone to T = obedience drops to 20.5%
• Uniform variable


  Experimenter called away and replaced with a casually dressed confederate = obedience drops to 20%
• Location variable


  Location moved to run-down office block = obedience drops to 47.5%
• Bickman - 3 confederates dressed as a guard, milkman and civilian ask public to pick up litter - 2x as likely to obey guard rather than civilian
• Smith and Bond - Milgram's study is in Western culture and is not cross-cultural
• Agentic state


  Acting for someone else so take no responsibility (an agent)
• Autonomous state


  Feel free to behave on their own and have responsibility
• Agentic shift


  Move from autonomous state to agentic state
• Binding factors


  Aspects that allow the person to ignore the damaging effects of their behaviour
• Legitimacy of Authority


  We obey people who have a higher position of power within a social hierarchy as their authority is 'legitimate'
• My Lai Massacre - 504 civilians killed by American soldiers who were 'doing their duty' and 'following orders'
• Blass and Smith - students watched Milgram's study and said the experimenter was to blame for the harm
• Rank and Jacobson - 16/18 nurses disobeyed orders from a doctor to administer excessive drugs to patients
• Adorno


  Wanted to understand anti-semitism of the holocaust
• Authoritarian personality


  Shows extreme respect for authority, views society as 'weaker' that it was, need strong leaders to enforce traditional values, inflexible outlook
• Scapegoating


  Displacing onto others perceived as weaker
• Adorno (Procedure)


  2000+ middle class white Americans - developed F-scale - participants had to agree or disagree with controversial statements
• Adorno (Findings)


  • High scores were associated with high authoritarian personality - found a strong positive correlation between authoritarianism and prejudice
• Milgram and Elms - interviews with 20 participants who went to 450V and found high levels of authoritarian personality and scored high on F-scale
• Adorno limitation - pre-war germany showed millions who were already anti-semitic - it's unlikely they all had the authoritarian personality