AO3

• Research support for uniform


  • Bushman (1988): female researcher asking people for money for an expired parking ticket
  • When in police uniform 72% of the people obeyed, compared to 48% for the executive and 52% for a beggar
• Bushman's research shows that uniform has some explanatory power
• Demand characteristics


  Participants might have guessed that they weren't expected to obey when taken to a run-down building
• Demand characteristics suggests a lack of realism in Milgram's study, making it difficult to know whether location in particular causes a drop in obedience
• Legitimacy of authority


  People expect to have a person of social control, e.g. the experimenter is expected to be in charge in Milgram's study
• A person wearing a uniform represents an institution and therefore people are expected to obey
• Agentic state


  Participants might have perceived themselves as being agents of the experimenter's wishes, allowing them to commit actions guilt-free as the consequences are not their responsibility
• Real life situations of agentic state


  • Massacre in My Lai where soldiers committed crimes because of the instructions of a uniformed officer
• Both a uniform as well as proximity make it more likely for people to obey