Social Influence 2

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  • Created by: imogen
  • Created on: 06-06-17 11:22

A Definition

Obedience is the result of social influence where somebody acts in response to a direct oreder from an authority figure.

Milgram: Unjust orders

Aim: if ordinary Americans would obey an unjust order from a person in authority to inflict pain on another. What factors in a situation led people to obey?

Procedure: 40 paid male volunteers from newspaper ad, aged 20-50. Upon arrival P's introduced to Mr Wallace (confederate), the P's were assigned 'teacher' and the conf. a 'learner'. The learner was strapped to an electric chair. P's placed in a separate roomwith a labelled shock generator 15 to 450 volts. 'Teacher' reads out word pairs and the conf. has to memorise them then recall them. If they made a mistake, the teacher was to administer a shock, increasing in voltage each time. As the voltage increased the 'teacher' began hesitating as the 'learner' screated and shouted to stop (pre-recorded). if the teacher hesitated, the experimenter had 4 'prods': "please continue", "the experiment requires you to continue", "its absolutely essential you continue", "you have no choice, you must go on."

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Milgram

Findings: All participants went up to at least 30 volts. 65% went up to and including 450 volts (lethal to humans.) Most found the procedure very stressful and wanted to stop, some showed extreme anxiety and nervous laughter.3 participants suffered seizures.

Conclusion: under certain circumstances, most would obey orders that go against their conscience. Participants identified with the experimenter. A study by Haslam & Reicher found that the first 3 prods don’t demand obedience but the 4th does and that when most stopped.

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Variations of Milgram

Proximity

1. Teacher and learner in same room = 40% obedience

2. Teacher places learners hand on shock plate = 30% obedience

3. Experimenter giving instructions over the phone = 20% obedience

Location

1. In a run-down office building = 47% obedience

Uniform

1.Experimenter has to leave and a colleague replaces him in normal clothes = 20% obedience

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Explanations - Legitimacy of Authority

  • We are obligated to those in authority because we respect their credentials and assume they know what they’re doing.
  • Held by authority figures whose role is defined by society
  • Gives them the right to exert control over the behaviour of others and they usually accept it
  • Willing to give them control of our behaviour
  • Less likely to obey if the person has less legitimate authority
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Explanations - The Agentic State

  • People obey destructive authority because they do not take responsibility of their behaviour – they see themselves as agents of the authority figure
  • ‘Agentic shift’
  • People then mindlessly accept the orders of the person seen as responsible in the situation
  • They’re not unfeeling, they experience high anxiety when they realise their actions are wrong but they feel powerless to disobey
  • People can remain in the agentic state for a long time
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Dispostional Explanation

Dispositional explanation – highlights the importance of the individuals personality

The Authoritarian Personality

  • Obedient respectful and submissive those in authority
  • Hostile and dismissive to those not in authority – considered as inferiors
  • There are no ‘grey areas’ – everything is either right or wrong
  • It is often the result of strict parent id childhood. They grew up angry and when they’re older they displace this anger on inferiors
  • Childhood experiences of conditional love and punishment leads to strong opinions on sex, race and gender. They believe in a powerful leader to enforce traditional values.  
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Adorno et al

Aim: to investigate the causes of the obedient personality (authoritarian)

Procedure: 2000 middle class white Americas where assessed on their attitudes towards racial groups, using the F-scale (fascism) questionnaire

Findings: those who scored highly on the F-scale tended to have authoritarian personality characteristics e.g. disliked the weak, excessive respect to those of higher status

Conclusion: a high level of obedience was a psychological disorder.

Evaluation:

:) large sample – reduce the impact of anomalies

:) Milgram found the most obedient in his also scored highly on the F-scale

:( ethnocentric – external validity all middle class

:( flawed methodology and it is correlation not cause and effect

:( Nazis all obeyed but it’s not to say they all had an upbringing the same to give them this personality

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