A-level psychology: Bocchiaro's study

disobedience and whistleblowing

what was the background of Bocchiaro's study?

Bocchiaro's inspiration came from Milgram's study. he noted that Milgram only focused on obedience and he was interested in disobedience (particularly whistleblowing) to authority and what made people disobedient (personality)

what is meant by the term whistleblowing or being a whistle blower?

to expose information

what is meant by sensory deprivation?

to have lack of senses

what year did Bocchiaro's study take place?

2012

what method was used in Bocchiaro's study?

it was in a controlled observation

were was the location of Bocchiaro's study?

it was done in a VU university, Amsterdam (prestigious school)

what data was gathered in Bocchiaro's study?

the number of participants who obeyed by writing a statement and those who disobeyed and those who became whistle blowers

what was the sample in Bocchiaro's study?

149 undergraduate students, 96 women and 53 men

what was the original sample and why was it changed?

the original sample was 160 undergraduate students, but 11 people were removed because they were suspicious of the nature of the study

what was done before the study took place?

Bocchiaro completed 8 pilot studies before the real study with 92 students to make sure the procedure was ethical

what was the cover story in Bocchiaro's study?

the experimenter told the participants about an experiment that took place in Rome where they were investigating the effect of sensory deprivation on the brain.

6 participants were used where they were were isolated, unable to see or hear - they panicked and their cognitive abilities were temporarily impaired and had they had severe hallucinations. 2 participants asked to stop but were told they were not allowed because it would ruin the study.

The experimenter then said that they wanted to replicate the study at the university on students, as there was no data on the effects on young people

before the study, what did the experimenter ask the participant?

he asked them to provide a list of names of their peers/ classmates

what was done in the first room

the participant was told about a university research committee and their evaluation on whether to approve the study, so they were collecting feedback from students. forms were in the next room

they were also told that they were to write a statement to convince the students that they had named to participate in the study, statements would be sent via email

the experimenter left the room for 3 minutes so that the participant could think about their decision

what was n the second room?

participants were moved to another room where there was a computer for them to use to write their statement, a mailbox and the research committee forms

what were the participants offered if they contributed to the study?

participants were paid 7 euros or given course credit

what were the participants instructed to include in their statement?

they were told to be enthusiastic and they had to include two adjectives such as 'exciting and incredible '

what were the participants told NOT to include in their statement?

they were told not to mention the negative effects of the sensory deprivation

how long did the experimenter leave the participant alone in the second room?

he left the room for 7 minutes, where the participant would make their decision

how many people said they would obey the experimenter in the comparison group?

3.6% said they would obey

how many people said they would be disobedient in the comparison group?

3.9% said they would disobey

hoe many people said they would blow the whistle in the comparison group?

64.5% said they would whistleblow

how many people actually obeyed?

76.5%

how many people actually disobeyed?

14.1%

how many people actually blew the whistle?

9.4%

what were the strengths in Bocchiaro's study?

it was easy to analyse because the comparison group data in comparison to the actual data allowed them to establish if there was a link to personality and the likelihood to obey

the sample was a mix of both women and men

what were the weaknesses in Bocchiaro's study?

all the participants came from the same place meaning that it didn't represent other peoples behaviour from other countries.

the participants were also quite young which didn't represent other age groups