It is believed/ proven that people have strong inclinations to obey legitimate authority figures irrespective of their beliefs, feelings or intentions
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What is 'unjust authority'?
someone who gives instructions which require a person to behave in an antisocial way
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What is Whistleblowing
When someone reveals something covert or informs against another person
It can be challenging and involves telling on your immediate superiors, who have authority over you
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What research method was used
- A lab experiment
- Took place in the VU uni in Amsterdam
- Conditions could be controlled and there were
- standardised procedures
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Characteristics of the sample
- Volunteer sample/ people responded to a flyer with an email address on in a uni canteen
- 149 undergraduate students (96 women, 53 men) mean age= 20.8
- People took part in exchange for 7 euros or psychology course credit
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What were the quantitative results of the experiment?
76.5% of people were obedient/ didnt blow the whistle
14.1% of people were disobedient/ didn't write the email
9.4% of people whistle-blew
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What were the predicted behaviours of different people
Obey- 3.6%
Disobey-31.9%
Blow the whistle- 64.5%
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What were the qualitative results?
Obedient participants stated-
' It was expected of me, that's why I continued'
'I cooperated because the experimenter asked me to'
Disobedient- 'I don't want to do unethical things'
'I would be very disappointed in myself'
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What were the conclusions of the experiment?
People tend to obey authority figures, even is the authority is unjust
People are very obedient and whistleblowing is uncommon
There is no/little evidence to suggest that dispositional factors affect obedience
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More conclusions
What people think they will do in a situation is different to what most people actually do
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Other cards in this set
Card 2
Front
What is 'unjust authority'?
Back
someone who gives instructions which require a person to behave in an antisocial way
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