bocchiaro

• What were the aims?


  1. Investigate how many ppl would obey,disobey or whistleblow an unethical request from an authority figure

  2. Investigate how people think they would act compared to how they actually act

  3. Investigate dispositional factors in obeying disobeying or whistleblowing
• What was the sample?- Experimental


  149- (96 women, 53 men) from VU uni students

  Volunteer sample

  recruited via flyers put up in the uni cafe

  Given compensation of 7 euros or course credit

  11 ppnts taken out due to suspiciouns
• What was the sample?- Hypothetical

  138 VU uni students
• What was the research method?


  Lab study

  Conducted in a lab at VU uni in Amsterdam

  8 Pilot studies were done to make sure that the experiment was credible and ethical and to standardise the experimenter experience- it was found that ppnts found it both credible and unethical
• What was the procedure?- Experimental


  Ppnts taken into a room to be informed of the benefits and risks of the study, they were told of their right to withdraw at any point without any penalty and assured of confidentiality

  
  

  The experimenter then described the cover story- study done in Rome about the effects of sensory deprivation on the brain, they said that those who took part had hallucinations and were impaired for a bit

  
  

  Ppnts were then asked to write a statement convincing students to sign up

  After this the experimenter left for 3 mins to let them think

  
  

  Then ppnts were brought to another room with a computer to write their statement on and a form saying that the uni aimed to promote ethical research

  The experimenter then left for 7 mins

  
  

  After this, the ppnts were all debriefed of the study's true aim and asked to sign a form giving informed consent
• What was the procedure?- hypothetical

  The ppnts were described the experimental condition in detail and were asked:

  1. "What would you do?"

  2. "What would the average student at your uni do?"
• What were the results?- experimental


  76% obeyed- majority obeyed

  - Those who obeyed were in an agentic state and said: "I proceeded because it was expected of me"

  
  

  14% disobeyed

  -Those who disobeyed said it was because they felt responsible

  
  

  9% whistleblew- minority whistleblew

  
  

  There was no sig diff in how those religious acted BUT sig diff in those who had faith

  There was no sig diff in how diff personalities acted
• What were the results?- hypothetical


  "What would you do"

  Majority (64.5%) thought they would whistleblow

  Minority thought they would obey

  
  

  "What would the average student at your uni do"

  Majority (43.9%) thought they would disobey

  Minority thought they would obey
• What were the conclusions?


  1. People will obey authority even if unjust

  2. How people think they or others will act differs from reality

  3. There was a trend in the data that showed whistleblowers had more faith than obedient and disobedient ppnts