Situational Variables affecting obedience- as investigated by Milgram

What are situational variables? AO1

Features of an individuals immediate social/physical environment that may influence behaviour

What are the situational variables Milgram focused on? AO1

1. Location

2. Proximity

3. Uniform

How did Milgram test location? AO1

Original study= conducted in Yale Uni

Variation= conducted in old, rundown office building

How did obedience levels change with a change in location? AO1

Obedience levels dropped from 65% to 47.5%

Why did change in location affect obedience levels? AO1

Prestigious university gives the study legitimacy and authority

Ppts more obedient at Yale as perceived experimenter shared the legitimacy and so obedience was expected

How did Milgram test proximity? AO1

Original study= teacher could hear learner but not see him

Tested it through multiple Variations, 2 examples are=

1. Teacher and learner in same room

2. Experimenter left the room and gave instructions to teacher via a telephone

How did the teacher and learner in the same room affect obedience? AO1

Obedience dropped to 40%

How did the experimenter leaving the room and giving teacher remote instruction affect obedience? AO1

Obedience dropped to 20.5%

Why did change in proximity affect obedience levels? AO1

Decreased proximity allows ppts to be more aware of the harm they are causing and so be less obedient

Removal of experimenter= experimenters authority becomes less apparent

How did Milgram test uniform? AO1

Original study= experimenter dressed in lab coat

Variation= experimenter swapped with ordinary person dressed in ‘normal’ clothes

How did change in uniform affect obedience? AO1

Obedience dropped to 20%

Why did change in uniform affect obedience levels? AO3

Uniform encourages obedience as they are widely recognised as symbols of authority

People without a uniform have less right to expect obedience as their authority is not seen as legitimate

What is one strength of Milgram’s situation variable experiments? AO3

+ve Research Support

Bickman (1974) conducted a filed experiment where confederates stood on the street and asked members of the public passing by to perform a small task

The outfits the confederates were wearing varied from a security guard, milkman or a smart suit and tie

Found that members of the public were twice as likely to obey orders given by the ‘security guard’

Therefore supports Milgram’s idea that a uniform adds to the legitimacy of an authority figure and is a situational variable that affects obedience

What is one weakness of Milgram’s situational variable experiments? AO3

-ve Low Ecological Validity

This is because ppts may have been aware the procedure was fake

Orne and Holland (1968) made this criticism about Milgram’s original study and point out this is even more likely in his variations because of the extra manipulation of variables.

For example, when the experimenter is replaced by ‘a member of the public.’

Therefore, it is unclear whether the findings are genuinely due to the operations of obedience or because they ppt saw through the deception and just responded to demand characteristics