Milgram and social influence

• What are the 2 psychological explanations for obedience

  agentic state, legitimacy of authority
• • agentic state

  when people believe they are acting as an agent to an authoritative figure which makes them more likely to obey.

  They hold the authoritative figure responsible for their own actions.

  this is opposite to an autonomous state where people take responsibility for their own actions.
• agentic state Milgram

  Questioned why they obeyed during debrief stage: participants said they knew giving electric shocks was wrong however they held the experimenter responsible for their actions instead
• Legitimacy of authority

  Amount of perceived power a person giving out instructions has

  if perceive someone to have high social power, then they are perceived as legitimate authority figure, increasing likelihood to obey

  can be either associated with social roles eg police or social status eg parent
• Legitimacy of authority millgram

  Several variation of the experiment of altering the legitimacy of authoritative figure

  when it was member of the public, legitimacy of authority has decreased, less obedience occurred
• 2 factors of situational variable

  Proximity, location
• Proximity

  Involves how close the teacher was to the authority figure experimenter. Findings show that the closer the participants are to the experimenter, the more likely they would obey
• proximity milgram

  Same room 65%

  telephone instructions 20.5%
• Location


  setting of a scenario that can affect the way the request is viewed
• 2 ways location can impact levels of obedience

  When in a prestige setting, the likelihood of obedience increases

  settings can make the instructions of authoritative figure seem appropriate or inappropriate, altering obedience levels
• Location milligram

  Rundown office block: 48%obeyed to the highest voltage 450

  prestigious yale uni: 65% to highest voltage of 450
• Uniform

  Clothing worn by an authoritative figure that affects levels of obedience
• 2 ways uniform can affect obedience levels

  If an official looking uniform, it enhances legitimacy of authority which leads to an increase in obedience levels

  and when uniform is appropriate to setting, it increases obedience
• Uniform: bickman

  Gave people tasks to pick up rubbish or lend money to a stranger to pay for their parking permit

  security guard uniform: 92% obedience

  normal clothes: 58%
• An example of dispositional explanation

  Authoritarian personality
• Authoritarian personality

  Adorno argued that they are traits that are developed from strict upbringing such as having physical punishments
• Behaviours of authoritarian personality

  Learn to not retaliate in a hostile way to parents as it is seen unacceptable and can lead to further punishment

  obedient towards those of high status and authoritative figures

  hostile treatment to those of lower status
• Locus of control

  A dispositional explanation regarding personality. It is measured in a continum on whether an individual will have high or low internal or external locus of control
• Internal locus of control

  They attribute cause of the circumstance with personal internal factors within their own control
• External locus of control

  They attribute cause of circumstance to external factors that are not within their control
• Rotter

  those of internal locus of control would resist social influence better since they feel more in control of their decisions therefore seeking less social approval of others
• Social support in resisting conformity

  Easier to resist social pressures as they feel more confident in their decisions and can reject view of majority’s. Having an ally reduces unanimity and can ’free up’ the individual from conforming to majority
• Social support in resisting obedience

  A disobedient participant can reduce obedience and prior disobedience, obedient participants can make a harmful action seem acceptable. It allows others to feel empowered and increase disobedience to the legitimate authoritative figure
• Aim of milgram study

  To investigate ordinary people’s obedience towards an authoritative figure even if the orders were ‘unjust’
• Procedure of milgram

  -40 male US participants volunteered to participate in study of how punishment affects learning at Yale university

  -2 confederates of experimenter and learner administrating electric shocks upon the learner

  -learner gave wrong answers on purpose to receive fake electric shocks that went up 15v till it reached max 450v

  -if teacher was to discontinue, experiment would give verbal prods like please continue
• findings of Milgram

  65% of participants continued to the highest voltage and some had showed signs of extreme tension like sweating and trembling
• Conclusion of milgram

  ordinary people will obey the orders of an authoritative figure even if they are wrong actions