Psychology- obedience: situational variables

% obedience when teacher and learner are in the same room

40%

% when experimenter gave orders by phone

20.5%

Why did obedience fall to 47.5% in run down office?

experimenter had less authority there than they did at Yale.

Bickman (1974)

Three confederates, dressed as a milkman, security guard, and jacket and tie asked public to do things and found people were twice as likely to obey the security guard than the jacket and tie.

Miranda et al (1981)

Obedience rate of over 90% amongst Spanish students

Smith and Bond (1998)

Explain how most research has been carried out in Western developed societies, so it is too early to conclude that proximity, location and uniform apply universally.

Milgram carried out a large number of variations in order to consider what?

Situational variables

Three types of variables used in Milgram's experiment

Proximity, location and uniform

Percentage of obedience in run down office

47.5%

percentage of obedience at Yale

65%

% when teacher forces learners hand onto plate

30%

% when experimenter played by member of public

20%

Uniform affecting obedience

ordinary member of public in everyday clothes replaced experimenter in lab coat, obedience dropped to 20% (lowest %)

baseline study ao3 evaluation.

strengths, strong external validity, nurse experimeny (21/22). weaknesses lacks internal validity and is unethical.

strengths, nurse experiment.

Hofling et al. (1966), who conducted a field study using a naive sample of 22 nurses

• Each nurse was telephoned by a doctor they did not know

• The doctor told the nurse to administer an excessive dose of an unfamiliar drug

  • 20 mg of 'Astroten' (the drug was fake and was simply a glucose tablet)

  • The Astroten box clearly stated that the maximum daily dose was 10mg

• 21 out of the 22 nurses obeyed the unethical order, which broke hospital guidelines

• The findings support the idea that harmful acts can be committed by seemingly caring people

• Thus, Milgram's study has good external validity as similar effects as were observed in his study can be seen in the real world

ao3 baseline. how does milgrams experiment lack internal validity.

perry, only 50% believed shocks were real. Ps may have been responding to demand characteristics, ‘play acting’.

ao3 baseline. how is milgrams OG study unethical?

Ps were deceived to true nature of study, not properly given right to withdraw (experimenter’s prods when Ps asked to leave), caused excessive stress in Ps. could not be replicated today.

ao3 baseline. counterpoint to low internal validity.

experiment carried out with real shocks on a puppy. 100% of women gave what they thought was a fatal amount, 54% of men. obedience in study may be genuine

VARIATIONS AO3.