Situational variables affecting obedience

Subdecks (1)

Cards (12)

  • Proximity
     
    - Teacher and learner were in the same room obedience levels dropped to 40%
    - Teacher held learner’s hand onto the shock plate obedience dropped to 30%
    - Experimenter giving instructions over the phone obedience dropped to 21%
  • Location
     
    - Study was conducted at Yale University
    - This gave the participants confidence in the integrity of the study
    Milgram moved the study to a run-down office
    - Obedience dropped slightly to 48%
     
  • Power of uniform
     
    - In the original baseline study, the experimenter wore a grey lab coat as a symbol of his authority.
    • Milgram carried out a variation in which the role of the experimenter was taken over by an 'ordinary member of the public' (played by a confederate) in everyday clothes rather than a lab coat. The obedience rate dropped to 20%, the lowest of these variations.