Obedience

• Obedience


  A type of social influence which causes a person to act in response to an order
• Obedience


  • The person who gives the order usually has authority and the power to punish if the order is not obeyed
• Conformity


  Implicit/explicit request to change behaviour
• Obedience


  Direct request to change behaviour
• Conformity


  Pressure to change behaviour is usually from a large group
• Obedience


  Pressure to change behaviour is usually from one person
• Shock Experiment - Milgram 


  P - Voluntary male university students were paired with another person (confederate) and each assigned leaner or teacher. Teacher was told to administer an electric shock every time the learner made a mistake, increasing the level of shock each time. If the participant refused to administer a shock the experimenter was to give a list of probes to ensure they continued

  F - All participants shocked up to 300V and 65% shocked all the way up to 450V
• Milgram AO3 - Low internal validity

  • Orne and Holland argued that pp were ‘play-acting’
  • Perry listened to tapes of Milgram’s participants and reported only half believed shocks were real
  • 2/3 of these participants were disobedient so displayed demand characteristics
  • Sheridan and King counter argued this by conducting an experiment where participants gave shocks to puppies, 54% of men and 100% of women gave what they thought was a fatal shock
  • Suggests effects in Milgram’s study were genuine as pp behaved obediently even when they could see the puppy in distress and the shocks were real
• Milgram AO3 - Good external validity

  • Supporting study - Hofling et al
  • Nurses working in various hospitals receive calls from a confederate Dr, instructing them to give confederate patient 20mg of a made up drug - said he would sign the drug authorisation later
  • Label on the box clearly stated that the max dosage was 10mg
  • 21 out of the 22 nurses that received a call from Dr complied without hesitation and 11 said they had not noticed the dosage discrepancy
  • Real life setting which showed nurses obeyed an authority figure (the doctor)
• Milgram AO3 - Good external validity counterpoint

  • Rank and Jacobson - replicated the experiment but the instruction was to administer a known drug at 3 times the recommended level
  • Call came from a real known doctor and nurses were able to consult with other nurses before proceeding
  • Only 2 out of 18 nurses prepared the medication as requested
  • May have been less likely to follow the orders as it was a less ambiguous situation as the nurse was able to get support
• Milgram AO3 - Supporting research

  • Findings of Milgram’s study were replicated in the French ‘Game of Death’ documentary about reality TV
  • Participants believed they were contestants in a pilot episode for a new show
  • Were paid to give electric shocks in front of audience - 80% delivered maximum shock and displayed behaviour identical to that of Milgram’s participants
  • Supports original findings and shows they were not just due to circumstance
• Where was Milgram's experiment relocated to in variations?

  Less prestigious offices in a nearby town
• What was the obedience rate when the venue was moved to less prestigious offices?

  47.5%
• What happened to the obedience rate when the teacher and learner were in the same room?

  It decreased to 40%
• How did forcing the learner's hand onto the plate affect obedience rates?

  It decreased obedience rate to 30%
• What was the obedience rate when the experimenter was replaced by a member of the public?

  20%
• How did the change in uniform affect the obedience rate in Milgram's experiment?

  Obedience rate decreased to 20%
• What are the variations of Milgram's experiment regarding location, proximity, and uniform?

  • Location: Moved to less prestigious offices, obedience rate 47.5%
  • Proximity:
  • Same room: 40%
  • Forced hand: 30%
  • Telephone instructions: 20.5%
  • Uniform: Replaced by public member, obedience rate 20%
• What was the obedience rate when the experimenter left the room and instructed the teacher by telephone?

  20.5%
• Milgram's variations AO3 - Supporting evidence

  • Bickman conducted a field experiment in New York where three male researchers gave orders to 153 randomly selected participants
  • Researchers either dressed in a suit and tie, a milkman’s uniform or a guard”s uniform
  • Gave various orders for example: pointing to a bag on the street and saying “Pick up this bag for me”
  • Found that participants were most likely to obey the researcher dressed as a guard (89%), than the milkman (57%) or civilian (33%)
  • This supports the view that uniform does have a powerful effect on obedience
• Milgram's variations AO3 - Effect of culture and gender

  • Experiment has been replicated by other researchers in many countries and with a variety of participants
  • Found that there were no gender differences in obedience
  • Places like Jordan had a higher obedience than the US whereas countries that were culturally similar to the US like Australia had similar obedience rates
  • Suggests that obedience applies to everyone in all cultures
• Milgram's variations AO3 - Cross-cultural variations

  • Findings were replicated in other cultures
  • Meeus and Raajmakers used more realistic procedure to study obedience in Dutch participants
  • Participants ordered to say stressful things in an interview to someone (confederate) desperate for a job
  • 90% of participants obeyed
  • Researcher also replicated findings concerning proximity - when person giving orders was not present obedience decreased dramatically
  • Suggests that findings are not limited to just Americans or men but are valid across cultures and apply to women too