Situational Variables Affecting Obedience

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Situational Factors in Obedience

Proximity

In the proximity study, both teacher and learner were seated in the same room. Obedience levels fell to 40% as the teacher was now able to experience the leaner's anguish more directly. In an even more extreme variation the teacher was required to force the learner's hand onto a shock plate. In this touch proximity condition, the obedience rate dropped even further to 30%. Milgram found the proximity of the authority figure also had an effect on obedience rates. in the experiment absent study, after giving instructions the experimenter left the room and gave subsequent orders over the telephone. The vast majority of participants now defied the experimenter, with only 21% continuing to the maximum shock level. Some even went as far as repeatedly giving the weakest shock level despite telling the experimenter they were following the correct procedure.

Location

The studies were conducted in the psychology laboratory at Yale University. Several participants remarked that the location of the study gave them confidence in the integrity of the people involved, and many indicated that they would not have shocked the learner if the study had been carried out elsewhere. What, then, would happen if the research were moved to a less prestigious location? To examine this possibility Milgram moved his study to a run-down office in Bridgeport, Connecticut, with no obvious affiliations with Yale. Obedience rates did drop slightly but not significantly, with 48% of participants delivering the 450 volt maximum shock.

The Power of Uniform

Research has shown that uniforms can have a powerful impact on obedience. They are easily recognisable and convey power and authority, which can become symbolised in the uniform itself. Bushman carried out a study where a female researcher, dressed either in a 'police-style' uniform, as a business executive or as a beggar, stopped people in the street and told them to give change to a male researcher for an expired parking meter. When she was in the uniform, 72% of the people obeyed, whereas obedience rates were much lower when she was dressed as a business executive (48%) or as a beggar (52%). When interviewed afterwards, people claimed they had obeyed the woman in uniform because she appeared to have authority. 

Internal Validity : A Lack of Realism

Orne and Holland claimed that participants in psychological studies have learned to distrust experimenters because they know that the true purpose of the study may be disguised.

Perry discovered that many of Milgram's participants had been sceptical at the time about whether the shocks

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