Obedience - Milgram’s research, the agentic state, legitimate authority, Authoritarian personality, Hofling et al’s study, Bickman’s study

What are the two levels that Milgram suggests that people can operate on?

autonomous state, agentic state

What is the autonomous state? (2)

when we feel personally responsible for our actions and behaviour, we are more likely to act in accordance with the law and our moral conscience

What is the agentic state? (2)

when an individual feels they can shift the responsibility for their own actions on to an authority figure, allowing them to act in ways that they wouldn’t if they were in an autonomous state

When does the shift between states occur?

when an individual decides there is a legitimate authority figure giving orders

What 3 factors affect whether a person perceives a source to have legitimate authority?

uniform, proximity, location

Give an example of how uniform affects a person’s perception of legitimate authority

people are socialised to be believe in the authority of a person in a white coat over a lay person

Give an example of how proximity affects a person’s perception of legitimate authority (2)

people are more likely to perceive a teacher’s authority as legitimate if they are standing over an individual asking them to write an answer, compared to if they set it as homework

Give an example of how location affects a person’s perception of legitimate authority

people are more likely to perceive a flight attendant’s authority as legitimate on a plane rather than on the street

What makes a person have a perceived legitimate authority? (2)

they have a role defined by society that gives them a right to exert their control over others, due to their status in society, conveyed by a uniform or location

Why are we more likely to obey those that we perceive as having legitimate authority?

we assume they know what they are doing

What is obedience?

whether a person follows direct orders given by another person

How is obedience different from compliance? (4)

participants embrace obedience as an explanation for their behaviour, based on power as occurs within a hierarchy, behaviour of the authority figure differs as they only give the orders, prescription for action is explicit

When did Milgram perform his original study?

1963

What was the aim of Milgram’s study? (2)

to research how far people would go in obeying an instruction if it involved harming someone, testing the belief that ‘germans are different’

What did Milgram predict?

in the right circumstances anyone can perform an evil act

What type of obedience was Milgram studying?

Destructive obedience

What characteristics did the participants have? (3)

40 male Americans, ages 20-50, from a range of jobs

Where was the experiment performed and why is it significant? (2)

Yale University, the location may impact the behaviour of the participants

Why were the participants sure to be from a variation of jobs?

to make the results generalisable

What was the method used? (2)

the naïve participant is ordered to press a button knowing it would give an electric shock, playing the role as a teacher on a word pairs task to Mr Wallace

How does Milgram make sure the naïve participant believe they will be administering a real electric shock?

They receive the only real electric shock in the experiment at 45V

How was the experiment standardised? (3)

Before the experiment started Mr Wallace unstrapped himself and played prerecorded responses of protest at specific points in the experiment, the experimenter is given a script of the same 4 prods, Mr Wallace is used as the same confederate every time

What was the key prod said by the experimenter to make the naïve participant believe they had no choice?

“you have no other choice but to continue”

What were the physical responses as a result of the experiment? (6)

sweating, trembling, stuttering, biting their lips, groaning, digging fingernails into their flesh

How many participants had nervous laughing fits?

14/40

How many naïve participants had uncontrollable seizures?

3

What percentage of naïve participants went up to 300V?

100%

What percentage of naïve participants went up to 450V?

65%

What percentage of naïve participants stopped before 450V?

35%

What percentage of naïve participants believed they were giving real shocks and that Mr Wallace was harmed or dead?

70%

What statistics can be used to rebut the argument of the ethical issues of the experiment? (2)

84% of naïve participants said that they were happy to have participated and 74% said they learned something about themselves

What percentage of naïve participants were unhappy they participated?

less than 2%

What conclusions can be made from Milgram’s original study about obedience? (5)

most ordinary people will follow orders given by an authority figure, even to the extent of killing an innocent person, Germans aren’t different, obedience to authority is ingrained in us from the way we are brought up, therefore obedience is not due to individual differences in personality

Who developed the concept of the Authoritarian personality as a dispositional explanation for obedience?

Adorno et al

When did Adorno et al develop the Authoritarian personality concept?

1950

What argument does the authoritarian personality give for obedience according to Adorno?

the reason some people are obedient is due to their personality

How is the authoritarian personality developed? (3)

due to an upbringing with strict parents, that are emotionally distant, using harsh physical punishments for obedience

What does this harsh upbringing in-still in the child?

the need to obey those in authority

How does a harsh upbringing cause displacement? (3)

the child is angry and frustrated, but they can’t take it out on their parents as they are threatened by them, causing them to redirect their anger to weaker personalities

Explain the concept of displacement (2)

it allows anger and frustration to be expressed in a safe way, usually directed towards minorities, blaming them for social problems

How do children make the marginalised groups an acceptable target for anger?

they project their own unacceptable thoughts and behaviours onto them

Outline the characteristics of the authoritarian personality and why an individual would be more likely to obey in Milgram’s procedure (4)

involves deep psychological mechanisms that help the individual manage internal conflict brought about by parenting by targeting external groups, they have a high respect for authority, obeying those above them, dominating those below them

When did Adorno develop the F-scale?

1950

What was the aim of Adorno’s research? (2)

investigate unconscious causes of anti-semitism and other forms of prejudice, by exploring whether the authoritarian personality is associated with higher levels of prejudice and obedience to authority

What were the characteristics of the people who participated in Adorno’s research? (5)

2000, middle class, white, American, males

What method did Adorno use? (2)

Directed participants to complete questionnaires including the Fascism scale, including statements participants rated their agreement with

What did the F-scale measure and some examples? (5)

authoritarian traits, such as obedience to authority, conformity to traditional norms, intolerance of ambiguity, aggression towards minorities

What did high results on the F-scale suggest about the characteristics of the individuals participating? (6)

strong respect for authority figures, conscious of status, rigid black and white thinking, hostility toward people of lower status, conformist and conventional views, strict and punitive upbringings with parents lacking open expression and affection

What conclusions can be made from Adorno’s research? (2)

the authoritarian personality is more prone to prejudice, obedience and intolerance, developed through harsh parenting leading to repressed hostility later displaced on weaker social groups

How does Adorno’s research provide a dispositional explanation for obedience?

it supports the idea that personality factors contribute to prejudice and obedience

What were the 3 situational factors thought to affect obedience?

location, proximity, uniform

How did Milgram change the location in his variations?

performed the experiment in a rundown office building instead of Yale University

What was the obedience rate of the variation taking place in a rundown office building?

48%

How does the decrease in obedience from 65% to 48% suggest location affects obedience?

it supports the view that a more prestigious location causes a higher obedience rate

How did Milgram change the proximity in his variations? (3)

the teacher and the learner in the same room, the teacher forces the learner’s hand onto the shock plate, the experimenter left the room and issued instructions by telephone

What was the obedience rate of the variation with the teacher in the same room as the learner?

40%

How does the decrease in obedience from 65% to 40% suggest proximity affects obedience when the teacher and learner were in the same room? (2)

increasing the proximity allowed for the teacher to observe the learner’s pain directly, so they were faced with the consequences of their actions

What was the obedience rate of the variation with the teacher forcing the learner’s hand onto the shock plate?

30%

How does the decrease in obedience from 65% to 30% suggest proximity affects obedience when the teacher had to force the learner’s hand onto the shock plate?

it supports the view that when the teacher is faced more directly with the consequences of their actions, obedience is less likely

What was the obedience rate of the variation with the experimenter leaving the room and phoning in instructions to the teacher?

21%

How does the decrease in obedience from 65% to 21% suggest proximity affects obedience when the experimenter left the room and phoned in instructions to the teacher? (4)

when there is no physical authority figure present, the participant feels less pressure, due to being under less scrutiny and feeling less fear, therefore they are more likely to disobey

How did Milgram change the uniform in his variations?

the experimenter was played by an ordinary member of the public wearing normal clothing instead of a white coat

What was the obedience rate of the variation with the experimenter not wearing a white coat?

20%

How does the decrease in obedience from 65% to 20% suggest uniform affects obedience?

it supports the view that greater prestige leads to higher obedience rate

What was the obedience rate for female participants in Milgram’s variations?

65%

What does the lack of change in obedience rate for female participants suggest about obedience, but how did they differ slightly? (2)

it suggests that sex is not a major factor in obedience to authority, but they reported feeling more stressed

What was the obedience rate when discretion was increased so that the participants were given a choice of the shock level they could administer, and how many participants did obey and give the full 450V shock? (2)

2.5%, 1/40

What was the obedience rate when there were 2 disobedient confederates present in the procedure?

10%

What was the obedience rate when there were 2 obedient confederates present in the procedure?

92.5%

What does the increase in obedience from 65% to 92.5% suggest about the affect of the obedient confederates’ presence in the procedure?

it demonstrates the power of social support/lack of in obedient behaviour

When did Bickman perform an experiment to research obedience?

1974

What was the aim of Bickman’s experiment?

to see how people in a real-life environment behave in response to requests by a man wearing a uniform

What type of experiment did Bickman perform?

a field experiment

What method did Bickman use? (2)

the same confederate approached a member of the public and gave a simple command, e.g. “pick up that paper bag”

What were the 3 conditions of the independent variable?

The confederate either wore: a guard’s uniform, a milk deliverer’s uniform or civilian clothes

What was the dependent variable?

how the members of the public responded

What was the obedience rate when the confederate wore a guard’s uniform?

76%

What was the obedience rate when the confederate wore a milk deliverer’s uniform?

47%

What was the obedience rate when the confederate wore civilian clothes?

30%

What conclusion can be made from Bickman’s experiment? (3)

uniforms increase obedience, the more prestigious the role indicated by the uniform, the more likely it is that people will obey

When did Hofling et al conduct research to study obedience?

1966

What type of experiment did Hofling perform?

a field experiment

Outline the method used by Hofling in his field experiment (3)

female nurses were given instructions over the phone by an unknown ‘Dr Smith’ directing them to give 20mg of Astroten to a made up patient, the drug is not on the approved list and its maximum safe dose is 10mg, administering it would go against hospital policy

Who was Hofling’s experiment performed on?

22 female nurses

What were the results of Hofling’s experiment?

21/22 (95%) of nurses complied

How do the results of Hofling’s experiment support Milgram’s research?

The results suggest similar levels of obedience in a real-life setting