Obedience situational variables:

• STRENGTH:

  • other studies have demonstrated the influence of situational variables on obedience
  • A field experiment in New York City, Bickman 1974 had three confederates dress in different outfits - jacket and tie, a milkman's outfit and a security guards uniform
  • Confederates individually stood in the street asking passers by to perform tasks such as picking up litter
  • People were twice as likely to obey the assistant dressed as a security guard than the one dressed in jacket and tie.

  This supports the view that a situational variable ie uniform does have a powerful effect on obedience
• STRENGTH:

  • Findings have been replicated in other cultures
  • IE Meeus and Raaijmakers 1986 used a more realistic procedure than Milgram's to study obedience in Dutch pp
  • Pp were ordered to say stressful things in an interview to someone (a confederate) desperate for a job
  • 90% of the pp obeyed
  • Researchers also replicated Milgram's findings concerning proximity
  • When the person giving the orders was not present obedience decreased dramatically

  Suggests that Milgrams findings about obedience aren't just limited to Americans or men but are valid across cultures and apply to women too
• COUNTERPOINT:

  • replications of Milgram's research are not very cross-cultural
  • Smith and Bond (1998) identified just two replications between 1968 and 1985 that took place in India and Jordan - both countries culturally quite different from the US
  • Whereas the other countries involved (e.g. Spain, Australia, Scotland) are culturally quite similar to the US (e.g. they have similar notions about the role of authority).

  Therefore, it may not be appropriate to conclude that Milgram's findings (including those about proximity, location and uniform) apply to people in all or most cultures.