RECAP Whiteboard relay… Outline and evaluate Milgram’s original obedience study (12)

Situational Variables Social influence: Objectives: To be able to outline Explanations for obedience including situational variables affecting obedience including proximity, location and uniform, as investigated by Milgram

Situational Variables: Definition Situational Variables: factors in the environment that can affect the results of a study. Milgram believed that several factors influenced the level of obedience shown by participants. They are related to EXTERNAL circumstances rather than the personalities of the people involved.

Situational variables Milgram’s ‘baseline study’ established a method he could repeat and vary He could then use the results of these variations to place a numerical value on the rate of obedience He found that situational factors might explain behaviour better than his original belief that obedience might be due to personality

Situational variables In his research, Milgram identified several factors that he believed influenced the level of obedience shown by the pps These are all related to the external circumstances rather than to the personalities of the people involved These include the following: proximity location uniform

How could the following variations affect obedience? Do you think the rate of obedience went up or down? proximity location uniform

Proximity This refers to the physical closeness or distance of an authority figure to the person they are giving an order to. In Milgram’s study, this also refers to the physical closeness of the ‘teacher’ to the learner Original study Variation Teacher and learner were in adjoining rooms Teacher and learner in same room 65% 40%

Research Methods In context… Draw a bar graph using the following results % of participants obeying to the full 450v Variation Obedience rate Baseline study at Yale university ______ Change of location to a run-down office 47.5% Teacher and learner in the same room 40 Teacher forcers learner’s hand onto plate 30 Experimenter gives orders on the phone 20.5 Experimenter played by a ‘member of public’ 20

What comments can you make about these results? Graph showing obedience levels in Milgram's variations of his baseline study What comments can you make about these results?

Proximity Milgram changed the variables in a variety of ways in order to study the effects of proximity One condition required the ‘teacher’ to force the ‘learner’s hand onto an electroshock plate when he refused to answer a question – touch proximity In this condition the obedience rate dropped to 30% In another condition, the experimenter left the room and gave the instructions to the teacher by telephone – remote proximity In this condition the obedience rate dropped to 20.5% The pps in this condition also frequently pretended to give shocks or gave much weaker shocks than they had been ordered to give

Location This refers to the place where an order is issued The relevant factor that influences obedience is the status or prestige associated with the location Original study Variation A prestigious university setting - Yale Changed location to a run-down office down town 65% 47.5%

Uniform People in positions of authority often have a specific outfit that is symbolic of their authority This indicates to the rest of us who is entitled to expect our obedience Original study Variation Experimenter wore a lab coat Role of experimenter carried out by ordinary member of the public (confederate) 65% 20%

Evaluations Research support Other studies have demonstrated the influence of these situational variables on obedience (Bickman) Bickman (1974) tested the ecological validity of Milgram’s work by conducting an experiment in a more realistic setting. In this study, three males researchers gave direct requests to 153 randomly selected pedestrians in Brooklyn, New York. The researchers were dressed in one of three ways: guards uniform (similar to that of a police officer) milkman’s uniform civilian clothing (sports jacket and tie)

The researcher then gave pedestrians one of the following three instructions: Nodding in the direction of a large bag on the ground, “Pick up this bag for me” Pointing to another confederate sitting in a nearby car, “That man is over-parked at the meter but doesn’t have change. Give him a dime” Walking up to a participant at a bus stop and saying, “You have to stand on the other side of this pole” Bickman observed that 80% of participants obeyed the researcher who was dressed to look like a police officer, whereas 40% of those approached by the researcher wearing civilian clothing or the milkman’s uniform obeyed the request. These findings therefore provide further evidence that obedience is influenced by the amount of authority a person is perceived to have.

Evaluations Control of variables + cross-cultural replications Controlling variables like this means that it is possible for other researchers to replicate (repeat) the study in the exact same way. This is important in science to make sure that findings are not just one-off chance events. Both Milgram’s original study, and his variations have been replicated in other cultures and have found similar results. This suggest that Milgram’s findings are not limited to American males, but are valid across all cultures (and apply to women). This suggests a robust phenomenon is being studied. However, most replications have been carried out in Western societies.

Evaluations Lack of internal validity The original study has been criticised as it was suggested that the pps guessed that the shocks were not real and therefore their ‘real’ behaviour was not being measured. It is even more likely that the pps in the variations realised that this was not a real study and they were being manipulated. Therefore their behaviour may simply have been demand characteristics

Complete the ‘Apply it’ task on page 25 Research Methods task Complete the ‘Apply it’ task on page 25