Milgram situational varables

A01

• After Milgrams original study, he carried out several variations to investigate how different situational factors affected levels of obedience

• The variables were designed to see how external circumstances influenced people’s willingness to obey authority

• Proximity refers to how close the teacher is to the learner.

• In the original study the teacher and learner were in separate rooms.

• In a variation where the teacher had to place the learners hands on a shock plate, the levels of obedience dropped from 65% to 30%

• In the original study, the experiment took place in Yale university which may have added credibility.

• When the location was changed to an office the obedience levels dropped to 47% suggesting that authority is partly based on setting.

• The experimenter originally wore. Lab coat, which acted as a symbol of authority.

• In the variation the experimenter was replaced with a member of the public in normal clothes.

• The levels of obedience dropped to 20%.

• This shows how uniforms can increase the legitimacy of authority

• In conclusion, these findings show that situational factors have a powerful effect on how likely people are to obey

AO3

• One strength of Milgrams situational variables is its strong research support.

• Milgrams situational variables are supported by other studies increasing the validity of his conclusions.

• For example, Bickman did a field study in New York where a confederate was dressed as a security guard, a milkman or in normal clothes.

• People were more likely to obey when the person wore a uniform

• This backs up Milgrams findings that uniforms increase obedience by creating a sense of legitimate authority

• This strengthens the external validity of Milgrams theory as similar results were found in a real world setting

AO3

• Another strength of Milgrams situational variables is its strong internal validity

• Milgrams variations were carefully controlled which boosts the internal validity of his findings

• In each condition, only one variable was changed while everything else was kept the same.

• This means we can be more confident that changes in obedience were caused by that one situational factor and nothing else

• This makes the study more scientifically reliable and gives the obedience explanation more credibility.

AO3

• Despite all the great strengths, One criticism is that it the changes in setting or uniform may have made the study more obviously fake

• Some participants may have guessed that the shocks weren’t real especially in the more dramatic variations.

• This creates demand characteristics where people behave how they think the experimenter wants rather than showing genuine obedience

• This lowers the validity of the findings as they may not reflect how people obey in real lit situations