Sitch variables affecting obedience- Milgram

• Milgrams Pilot study on if germans are inheritently obedient

  • 40 American men in yale university for a study on 'memory'
  • Confederate was the experimenter in a grey lab coat
  • Participants in a fixed draw were given teacher
  • Participants could not see the learner but could hear them
  • 15V, 75V, 300V, 450V
  • ALL ppts delivered shocks up to 300V
  • 2/3 ppts continued until 450V
• -Milgrams study has sample bias

  • 40 Men from America- cannot be generalised
• -Milgrams experiment has high external validiity

  • Lab experiment - highly controlled variables
  • Ecological validity
• -Milgrams study has demand characteristics

  • [Orne&Holand] realised they weren't giving shocks as they didn't believe in the set
  • Just administrated shocks because they were supposed to
• Situational variables- features of the immediate physical and social environment
• • changed one variable at a time- proximity,location,uniform
• Proximity- physical closeness of authority
• Location- the place where the order is issued

  • Run down block office- obedience fell to 47.5%
• Uniform- specific outfit that is symbolic to authority

  • experimenter called away and replaced with an ordinary member- obedience fell to 20%
• -Demand Characteristics [Orne+Holland]

  • variations where the experimenter was called out- artificial- participants could have figured out the aims
• [Bickman] Reseach to support the effects of obedience due to uniform

  • 3 confederates dressed as a milkman, security guard and jacket+tie
  • 2x more likely to obey the guard