Destructive Obedience

PPTs 4-5

what is obedience?

acting in accord with a direct order or command from a source of authority

what is an authoritarian personality?

a cluster of personal attributes and social attitudes- such as submission to people above, harshness to those below, and prejudice against minorities- which constitutes a distinct personality

MILGRAM: 1963, ‘74

briefly describe the method

participants were greeted by a man in a lab coat and falsely given the role of either ‘teacher’ or ‘learner’, while the learner was always a confederate. they were split into pairs of one teacher and one learner. the learner had to remember and recite word pairs, and the teacher had to administer a stronger shock each time the learner was incorrect. if the teacher was hesitant to increase voltage, they were given four verbal encouragements, each increasing in strictness and reassuring them that the shocks would not permanently hurt the learner. ater the 300 volt shock, the learner would become silent, creating the impression that they were either unconscious or unresponsive

MILGRAM: 1963, ‘74

state the results of the study

65% of participants continued to the highest shock level of 450 volts, with 100% of participants continuing to at least 300 V

what is agentic state?

a condition in which a person views themself as simply an agent for carrying out the wishes of another person. the opposite of autonomy

MILGRAM: 1963, ‘74

what are the four main ethical issues with the study according to Baumrind (1964)?

• participants may have been emotionally upset by the tension between themselves and the experimenter if they wished to stop and were urged onward

• participants who administered high voltage shocks may have made unwanted self discoveries

• the debrief may have been humiliating for participants, as they had done all of it for nothing

• participants may struggle with an inability to trust authority in future due to being deceived

HOFLING ET AL, 1966

briefly describe the study

22 on duty nurses were instructed by a confederate doctor to administer a drug which was supposedly double the maximum dosage. the doctor stated that he would sign the relevant papers when he arrived at the hospital 10 minutes later. only one nurse refused this instruction

MILGRAM: 1963, ‘74

who were participants?

40 white american men, aged 20-55

BURGER, 2009

what were the three aims of the study which partially replicataed milgram’s stufy?

• would obedience rates still be the same 40 years later?

• how would participants react to another teacher’s refusal?

• how would personality influence obedience?

BURGER, 2009

who were participants?

41 women and 29 men, all of whom had no history of psychiatric disorder or knowledge of milgram’s experiement

BURGER, 2009

briefly describe the method

the base condition of the experiment was similar to the original however shocks ended at 150V

the modeled refusal condition featured a second teacher who wished to stop at 90 volts however was asked to continue

BURGER, 2009

state results compared to milgram’s study

fewer participants in both conditions stopped before those in milgram’s study, however the majority still continued after 150V