2. Outline Obedience Milgram Experiment Responsibility and Obedience
Diffusion of Responsibility

3. Extreme Obedience Jonestown, Guyana, 1978
Jim Jones, cult leader of The People’s Temple, persuaded his followers to drink Kool-Aid laced with cyanide
913 died, including >200 children poisoned by their parents
Factors
cult members felt alienated from American society
cult members were in an isolated location
Jones was very charismatic
Jones promised life “in a better place”
Waco Texas, USA, 1993
David Koresh, cult leader of the Branch Davidians, maintained an armed standoff with the government for 51 days until he and cult members died in a fire of unknown origin
over 80 adults and children died

4. Extreme Obedience Nazi Holocaust Germany & Poland (Europe) Rwanda
6,000,000
Rwanda
(Africa)
1994
800,000
An estimated 210 million people were killed by genocide in 20th century.

5. Are the people who commit such acts inherently evil?
Adolf Eichmann
supervised the deportation of 6,000,000 Jews to Nazi gas chambers
Were Germans generally evil?
Was Eichmann an evil sadist or merely a cog in the wheel?

6. The Milgram Experiments
Obedience
Willingness to obey the commands of a legitimate authority
Procedures:
‘Teacher’ & ‘Student’: learn word pairs
‘Teacher’ required to administer shock to ‘learner’ for errors

7. Milgram Video: Questions
How did Milgram make the situation seem realistic?
What was the task for the learner and for the teacher?
How did the learner protest?
What sorts of things did the experimenter say to encourage the teacher to obey? What made the experimenter seem like an authority?
How far did subjects go before stopping?
Did the real subjects enjoy shocking the learner? Were they sadists?
Did the subjects obey just because Yale researchers had legitimate authority?
… and a few things to think about…
Was the study ethical?
Were the results worth it?
Why did so many people obey?
What would you have done in that situation?

8. Obedience Song Obedience Song (4.067 MB)
….this is what happens when social psychologists have too much time on their hands…

9. Factors That Affect Obedience
Remoteness of the victim
teacher and learner in separate rooms: 65% obedience
teacher and learner in same room: 40% obedience
teacher and learner in physical contact (teacher had to put learners hand on apparatus): 30% obedience
Closeness and legitimacy of authority figure
“ordinary person” confederate instead of experimenter: 20% obedience
Personal characteristics
no significant differences based on sex (though women reported feeling more guilty), politics, religion, occupation, education, military service, or psychological characteristics
Cog in a Wheel
“another subject” confederate does the dirty work and real subject assists: 93% obedience
“another subject” confederate disobeys: 10% obedience
subjects told they are responsible for learner’s welfare: 0% obedience

10. Responsibility and Obedience
“I refuse to take the responsibility of him getting hurt in there.”
“Who takes the responsibility if anything happens to that gentleman in there?”

11. Part 1 At 3:00 a.m., a woman drives home
She starts walking towards her entrance. But, then, sees a man standing at the edge of the parking lot
Instead, she heads towards street for police "call box"
The man grabs her
She screams "Oh, my God, he stabbed me! Please help me! Please help me!”
IF PEOPLE SAW THIS: HOW MANY OF THEM WOULD BE WILLING TO TRY TO HELP THE WOMAN?
(Helping includes picking up the phone to call the police)

12. A. No one would be willing to try to help.
B. One or two people would be willing to try to help.
C. Half the people would be willing to try to help.
D. More than half the people would be willing to try to help.
E. Most of the people would be willing to try to help.
(choose only ONE)

13. Part 2
Someone from an apartment building floor higher up yells out "Let that girl alone!"
Hearing this, the killer starts walking away toward a white car.
The neighbors turns out their lights
But, the killer returns and starts stabbing her again.
This time she screams "I'm dying! I'm dying!."
IF PEOPLE SAW THIS, HOW MANY OF THEM WOULD BE WILLING TO TRY TO HELP THE WOMAN?

14. Neighbors again open their windows and turn on their lights; a city bus drives by; the killer runs to his car and starts to drive off . The woman is now struggling to make it to her apartment.
IF PEOPLE SAW THIS, HOW MANY OF THEM WOULD BE WILLING TO TRY TO HELP THE WOMAN?
Part 3

15. Part 4 Now, it's around 3:45 a.m.:
The killer returns again, searches for the woman, finds her, and seems to deliver the final, fatal stab wound.
IF PEOPLE SAW THIS, HOW MANY OF THEM WOULD BE WILLING TO TRY TO HELP THE WOMAN?

16. Kitty Genovese Queens, New York. A total of 38 neighbors watched
Stabbed to death over 35 min period
The first phone call = 3:50 a.m. after Kitty was already dead.

18. What is Wrong with These People?
They are New Yorkers: callous and uncaring individuals
Fundamental attribution error
Blaming the others' personality while over-looking the situational factors

20. When Do People Help?? “Bystander Effect”(Darley & Lantané )
People are less likely to intervene if there are more people around
As the number of bystanders increases, the likelihood of any one bystander helping decreases and the more time passes before anyone helps

22. Diffusion of Responsibility
The decrease in an individual's sense of responsibility to help in an emergency when other bystanders are present. Responsibility gets diffused out across all people present

23. Diffusion of Responsibility
“I used to ask myself, ‘Why doesn’t somebody do something?!’ Then I realized I am somebody.”-- Jane Wagner

24. Diffusion of Responsibility
Seizure study (Latane & Darley, 1968)
Procedure:
SS put in individual booths and told they would discuss personal problems via speaker system.
During the discussion, a confederate suffers a seizure over intercom.
Manipulation (IV):
SS led to believe they were:
Alone
In 3-person group
In 6-person group
DVs: % who help and mean time to help

25. Darley and Latané (1968) - the "seizure" study
Percentage of Participants Who
Attempted to Help Victim

26. Darley and Latané (1968) - the "seizure" study
Numbers of Seconds
Passing before Participants
Attempted to Help Victim

27. Diffusion of Responsibility
The Smoke-Filled Room (Latane & Darley, 1970) SS showed up for an experiment and were asked to fill out a set of questionnaires. While filling out these questionnaires, the room began to fill up with smoke.
SS were tested in three conditions:
1) Alone in room
2) w/ 2 confederates
3) w/ 2 other "real" subjects
DV: % subjects reporting smoke within 6 mins

28. Diffusion of Responsibility
Percentage
of SS
Reporting
Smoke

29. Diffusion of Responsibility
Chair Study (Gaertner & Dovidio, 1977)
Diffusion of responsibility among Whites may be heightened when the victim is Black
Chairs fall on a fellow subject (B or W)
DV: % who help

30. Results
Percentage who help