Bocchiaro

• background - 1. we find it difficult to disobey authority when telling us what to do, 2. maybe be easier to disobey than whistle blow, 3. blowing whistle of authority figure is hard as puts us in direct conflict.
• aims: 1. would people, if given the opportunity to blow the whistle against moral authorities, would they? 2. would people’s predictions of their behaviour be the same as the actual behaviour? 3. is there be any individual differences between those who whistle blow and those who obey?
• sample: 149 undergraduates from VU uni, 43 men and 96 women
• comparison group: 138 students from VU Uni
• sampling method: volunteer - adverts and flyers
• pilot studies - 8 pilot studies with 92 different ppts from vu - check of its credible and morally acceptable and to standardise behaviour
• research method: lab study - not experiment ~> scenario study
• Procedure


  1. Arrive

  2. Greeted by experimenter (dutch, male, formally dressed, stern demeanour)

  3. Told task

  4. Told they would withdraw and was all confidential

  5. Experimenter asked for names of other students
• Cover story


  Wanted to do a repeat study into the effects of sensory deprivation which were traumatic because they have no research on young people
• Task

  1. Need to get approval from the uni

  2. Write statement to previous given students asking to take part

  3. Can't mention neg effects

  4. Have to be enthusiastic

  5. Left for 7 mins
• Options


  • Write pos statement (obey)
  • Not write (disobey)
  • Whistleblow (report study either openly or anonymously)
• Participants could anonymously challenge if they thought it was unethical
• personality inventories: HEXAXO personality inventories - measures 6 major personality types such as honestly and extraversion. SVO- refers to the weight a person attaches to welfare in relation to themselves or others - prosocial = acts to benefit others, proself = acts to benefit themselves.
• Religion and faith - asked to also state faith and religion. 2 different things.. faith is belief in higher being where as religion is going to religious events etc.
• comparison group prediction: given a detailed description of study and asked 2 questions: 1. “what would you do?” 2. “what would the average student at your uni do?”
• results table:

  obedience (self) - compare group: 31.9%, research group: 14.2%. Disobedience (self) - compare group: 31.9%, Research group: 14.2%, whistleblow (self) - compare group: 64.5%, research group: 9.3%
• results: 6% of whistleblowers were anonymous and 3.4% were open, no sig differences in groups for gender, religion or involvement but there was a significant difference for faith as whistleblowers have stronger faith. no difference on hexaco personality text, svo - “prosocial” and “individualistic“ = equally distributed. No specific personality type likely to defy/ blow whistle.
• qual data: obey - “it was expected of me” defied - “unfair for people who would get the message.”
• conclusions: with regard to faith, some evidence to show that whistleblowers have more faith, people tend to obey authority figures even if it is unjust, how people think they will do in a given situation, it often differs from what actually happens.