obedience

• what is obedience ?

  a form of social influence in which an individual follows a direct order. the person issuing the order is a figure of authority who has the power to punish.
• what is the aim of milgrams study ?

  to investigate wether participants would obey an order from authority figure regardless of the potential consequences
• what was the procedure of milgrams study ?

  • teacher ( participant ) observed learner have electrodes attatched to his arms
  • wall between the learner and teacher
  • teacher reads out pair of words and learner has to read them back
  • if they didn't recall correctly they would be given an electric shock which increased each time
• what were the findings of milgrams study ?

  all participants shocked up to 300 volts and 65% shocked up to 450 volts
• what was the conclusion of milgrams study ?

  majority of participants obey regardless of the consequences due to authority figure
• what were the strengths/limitations of milgrams study ?

  unethical - deceived to belive the shocks were real

  lacks population validity - all male americans aged 20-50 with similar professions

  lab experiment - lacked ecological validity as it is an artifical task and lacks mundane realism
• what did milgram change about proximity and what was the effect?

  experimenter gave orders by phone which decreased obedience to 20.5%
• what evidence contradicts that larger proximity decreases obedience ?

  hofling et al :

  • unknown doctor called hospital and ordered nurses to administer dangerously high dosage to patient
  • 21/22 nurses obeyed this
• what did milgram change about location and what was the effect?

  location was run down office and obedience decreased to 47.5%
• what did milgram change about uniform and what was the effect?

  experimenter played by member of the public and didn't wear lab coat which decreased obedience to 20%
• what evidence supports that no uniform decreases obedience ?

  bickman :

  • 3 male actors : milkman , security guard and ordinary clothes
  • security guard was obeyed on 76% of occasions
• what is agentic state ?

  where we feel no personal responsibility for our actions as we believe we are acting as agents for those in authority
• what is agentic shift ?

  a shift from autonomous state where we feel responsibility to an agentic state where we dont feel responsibility
• what is legitimacy of authority ?

  we obey those that we percieve to have authority over us justified by our social hierarchy and our state of social power
• what is the evaluation of agentic state and legitimacy to authority ?

  alternative explanations - milgrams variables , authoritarian personality

  real life application - army following 'orders'

  supported by milgrams study
• what are key characteristics of authoritarian personality ?

  • submissive to authority
  • highly conventional attitudes to race , sex and gender
  • traditional values
  • belief in moral right or wrong
  • respect for authority
  • very conscious of social status
  • belief in strong and powerful leaders
• what are the origins of the authoritarian personality ?

  harsh parenting styles in childhood
• what was adornos study ?

  2000 middle class white americans

  answered the questionaire F scale

  those who scored highly had authoritarian personality
• what is the evaluation of the authoritarian personality ?

  research support from milgram - high obedience = authoritarian

  lacks population validity - 2000 white middle class americans

  questionaire - creates asquience bias