Hofling & Bickman (support for Obedience)

• aim of hofling (1966)?

  to study obedience to authority in a real-life setting, specifically examining nurses' compliance w/a doctor's orders given under unusual cirumstances.
• method of hofling?

  • field exp, was conducted on hospital wards where nurses were unaware they were participating in the study. a confederate, posing as Dr Smith, phones nurses and asked them to administer 20mg of a drug called "Astroten" (made up) to a paitent.
• the drug & dosage (hofling):

  • the drug was a harmless placebo. the max authorised dose on the label was 10mg, meaning the requested dose was 2x the allowed limit and was from an unknown doctor over the phone.
• control group (hofling):

  a separate group of student & graduate nurses in the experimental group prepared to give the medication.

  • in contrast, the majority of nurses in control group said they would not comply w/such an order.
• strength of hofling?

  • study's use of a real-life hospital setting and unsuspecting p's provides high ecological validity and no demand characteristics, making the findings applicable to real-world obedience.
• weakness of hofling?

  • deception, sig. ethical issue was the deception of the ps as they were not informed about the exp or identity of the doctor.
• what did bickman (1974) demonstrate?

  • how uniforms increase obedience to authority figures. in an NY field exp, people more more likely to obey requests from a confederate dressed in a security guard uniform (76%) compared to a milkman's outfit (47%) or plain clothes (30%).
  • supports concept of legitimate authority, where a uniform signals status & confers power, making people more compliant.
• bickman (1974) tasks?

  • confederates asked passerby's to perform small, simple tasks, such as picking up a paper bag, giving someone a coin for a parking meter, or moving away from a bus stop sign.
• what is the relevance of bickman to obedience?

  • social influence = demonstrates how situaion variables, specifically a uniform, can sig. influence an individual's behaviour.
  • symbolism of authority = a uniform confers perceived authority, even when the individual is not a police officer. the uniform acts as a symbol of power & status, leading to increased obedience.