Obediance

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Definition of obediance?
A form of social influence in which an individuL follows a direct order from a percieved authority figure.
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Aim of Milgrams experiment?
To investigate the power of an authority figure and to find out if ordinary people would obey the demands of a percieved legitimate authority figure (even if demands were morally wrong)
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What did Milgram think about people commiting acts of evil? (aim)
Acts of evil were not necessarily carried out by evil people - but that the acts could be influenced by the situation
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Who took part in Milgrams experiment?
40 male participants (aged 20 - 50), volunteers
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What did Milgram tell them it was a study on?
To see how punishment affects memory and learning
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How did Milgram get participants?
Advertised in a local paper for volunteers
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What kind of experiment was it?
Labatory experiment
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Where did Milgrams study take place?
Yale University
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What happened when the participants arrived? (Procedure)
Greeted by experimentor in white lab coat and Mr Wallace (confederates). Told they would be randomly allocated teacher and learner but it was rigged so Mr Wallace was always Learner
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How much were the participants paid and what were they told?
£4.50, they would still gtet money even if they quit at any time
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What type of procedure was it?
Strict, standardised
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How was the experiment set up?
Learner wired to electric shock generator - teacher and learner sat in adjacent rooms
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What was the voltage range?
15v - 450v (increasing at 15v)
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What happened when the participants didnt want to continue?
Given verbal prods e.g. 'please continue', 'the experiment requires you to continue'
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Findings of Milgrams experiment?
100% went to 300 volts (extreme intensity), 65% went up to 450v (Danger: Severe Shock ***)
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Conclusions of Milgrams experiment?
Ordinary people will obey authority even if they know it is wrong - isn't evil people commiting evil crimes, but ordinary people simply obeying orders. Situation + context can also influence obediance = situational factors moer than dispositional
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What are the evaluation points of Milgrams study?
Internal Validity, External Validity, Reliability, Research support, Ethical Issues
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Who criticised the internal validity of the experiment?
Orne and Holland
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Why was the internal validity criticised?
Claimed participants were just going along with the act and didn't really believe they were giving electric shocks - only pretending to be distressed to please experimentor (DC)
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What did Milgram say when the internal validity was doubted?
Had evidence from debriefing session and film evidence that suggested they did believe it was real - 3 passed out and many were considerably distressed
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Why was the external validity a weakness?
Highly controlled lab experiment - artifical behaviour so cannot be generalised to real life - only conclusions is obediance in a labatory situation. Also used volunteers.
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What validitys does Milgrams experiment lack?
Ecological and Population
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Whats wrong with using volunteers?
Not representative of population
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Why was reliability a strength?
Been repeated and similar results shown e.g. French game show asked to give electric shocks to other 'participants' (confederates). 80% gave the highest shock.
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Research support for Milgrams experiment? (name)
Hofling et als field experiment - hospital experiment.
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What was Hofling et als experiment?
Nurses phoned by fake doctor to give a higher dose of a dangerous drug - 95% obeyed even though it was breaking the rules. However, this dropped to 11% when nurses could discuss/ well known drug was used.
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What were the ethical issues involved?
Deception, right to withdraw and protection from psychological harm
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Why was deception an issue?
Told it was a study on punishment and learning - denied participants right to informed consent.
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What did Milgram say about the deception involved?
It was necessary to avoid demand characteristics - would lead to low internal validity.`
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How did Milgram deal with the ethical issues?
Debriefed them, reassuring them they're behaviour was normal and answered any questions, gave them option to have their results deleted
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Why was the right to withdraw an issue?
Not made clear by Milgram - when participants expressed desire to leave they were given verbal prods and they may have felt they had no choice but to continue
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Why was protection from psychological harm an issue?
Participants suffered considerable distress (not justified by the aims of the experiment) - 3 passed out and many were very stressed
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What did Milgram say about the psychological harm?
84% said they were glad to have taken part and 74% said they felt they learnt something valuable about themselves + psychiatric examinations later shows they suffered no permanent damage
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What variations did Milgram use?
Proximity, Location and Uniform
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Limitations of Milgrams study?
Ethical issues, low internal validity and low external validity
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Strengths of Milgrams study?
Reliability and research support
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What were the proximity variables?
REDUCED proximity - teacher and learner in same room, CLOSE proximity - teacher had to force learners hand on shock plate
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What was obediance in the proximity variables?
40% in reduced, 30% in close
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What real life support is there for the proximity variable?
Explains why obeying an order to press a button thousands of miles away to kill thousands is easier than killing someone directly infront of you
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What was the location variable?
Run down office block compared to prestigious university
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Obediance rate in location variable?
48%
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How was there a control of variables in the location change?
Standardised procedure so drop in obediance definitely down to change in location (establish cause and effect)
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What was the uniform variable?
Experimentor called away at start and confederate in normal clothes took over role
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Obediance levels when uniform was changed?
20%
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Supporting research for uniform variable?
Bickman New York experiment - asked passers by to complete tasks such as picking up rubbish. Security guard = 92% obediance, Normal Clothes = 58% obediance
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

Aim of Milgrams experiment?

Back

To investigate the power of an authority figure and to find out if ordinary people would obey the demands of a percieved legitimate authority figure (even if demands were morally wrong)

Card 3

Front

What did Milgram think about people commiting acts of evil? (aim)

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

Who took part in Milgrams experiment?

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

What did Milgram tell them it was a study on?

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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