1. Conformity and Obedience
Subtitle

2. Conforming to Assigned Roles (not conformity due to normative or informational influences)
Zimbardo (1971)
Stanford Prison Experiment (mock prison)
Wanted to see if people would conform to assigned roles
Prisoner
Guard

3. Zimbardo (1971)
How would people behave if they were put into positions of authority with unimpeded power?
Would they willing use (abuse) the power given to them?

4. Flip of a Coin… Conducted in America, Stanford University
Using 24 male students
Paid $15 a day/£45 a day in 2016!
Study was to last 1-2 weeks
Randomly assigned the role of either Prisoner or Guard – coin flip

5. Like no other study… ‘Sent’ to prison: stripped, searched and deloused
Participants were arrested by real police, taken to a real police station
‘Sent’ to prison: stripped, searched and deloused
Prison clothing
Given a number not a name
Chain around their ankle

6. Like no other study… Guards wore military uniform
Reflective sunglasses
Carried keys, whistles, handcuffs and clubs
On duty 24 hours
Could employ ANY tactics to maintain order. ANY!

7. The Experiment https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=760lwYmpXbc

8. Your Evaluations??

9. My Evaluations…

10. The Millgram Experiment
Obedience
The Millgram Experiment

11. Obedience to Authority
One of the most famous studies - ever!
Looked at conflict between obedience to authority and personal conscience
Hot on the heels of the World War II, Nuremberg War trials
‘Just following orders’ justifications for acts of genocide by Germans during the Holocaust

12. Germans are Different
Milgram (1963) wanted to investigate whether Germans were particularly obedient to authority figures.

13. “Could it be that Eichmann and his million accomplices in the Holocaust were just following orders? Could we call them all accomplices?" (Milgram, 1974).

14. His Experiment…
Advertised for male participants to take part in a study of learning at Yale Uni.
Lots drawn ‘Learner/Teacher’
It was a Fix! Participant was always the ‘Teacher’

16. The Setup… One experimenter One ‘Teacher’ ~ participant
One ‘Learner’ ~ confederate

17. Incorrect answers by the ‘learner’ resulted in an ‘electric shock’
Paired word game
Incorrect answers by the ‘learner’ resulted in an ‘electric shock’
This was also a Fix!
Shocks increased from 15 volts to 450 volts with every wrong answer
240 Volts = UK
240 Volts is UK domestc
Eek!
DEATH!

18. Prods
Prod 1: Please continue or Please go on. Prod 2: The experiment requires that you continue. Prod 3: It is absolutely essential that you continue. Prod 4: You have no other choice, you must go on.

20. How Far Would They Go? ? ??

21. Predictions…
"Before the experiments, I sought predictions about the outcome from various kinds of people - psychiatrists, middle-class adults, graduate students…they predicted that virtually all the subjects would refuse to obey the experimenter. The psychiatrist, specifically, predicted that most subjects would not go beyond 150 volts…They expected that only 4% would reach 300 volts, and that only a pathological fringe of about 1 in 1000 would administer the highest shock on the board".

22. How Many?

23. How Many? 65% continued to the highest level of 450 volts
100% continued to 300 volts

24. Obedience Experiment

25. Your Evaluations??

26. Factors Influencing Obedience

27. Agency Theory of Obedience

28. Obedience Flowchart