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FACTORS AFFECTING OBEDIENCE (Situational (Personal Responsibility (Milgram…
FACTORS AFFECTING OBEDIENCE
Situational
Personal Responsibility
Milgram suggested obedience would be higher if personal responsibility given to the authority figure
Fred Prozzy asks "He might be dead in there, sir!
Do you take responsibility?"
Experimenter replies
Yes
, then PP continues
Gradual Commitment hypothesis
Voltage only increased in small increments (15v) so PPs found it easier to obey as each wrong answer only merited a minor a increase
small intervals felt inconsquential
Power and status of the authority
Obedience only shown if the authority figure seen as legitimate and therefore has
legitimate authority
The researcher would have legitimate power in Milgram and also expert power as wearing lab coat to indicate knowledge
Personality
Locus of control
The extent to which individuals believe they can control events affecting them
Someone's 'locus' is either
internal
(believe they have some control over event in their life) or
external
(believe life is determined by environmental factors they cannot influence)
Authoritarian personality
Adorno
suggested that individual differences in personality could be explained by the idea of an authoritarian personality, measured using teh F scale
High F-scale scorers would show obedience to those in authority
MIlgram and Elms
studied the obedient and the dissenters (20 of each, a found that the obedient had higher F-scale scores compared to the dissenters
Disposition
-
Blass
Observations made by him about the 'teachers' behaviour led him to believe that obedience could be linked to personality
PPs in caring jobs, Catholics and those with HEd . showed less obedience
PPs who had been in the armed forces and those with technical jobs obeyed more on the whole
Gender
Does not appear to be any difference between men and women in their ability to resist and authority figure
Variation #20 found that womenhad same obedience levels (65%)
However they did report ore levels of stress and tension than males perhaps as females are generally more empathetic than men
Culture
Individualistic cultures
these are cultures which stress the nees of the individual over hte needs of a group as a whole
In this culture people are seen as more autonomous, independent and tend to resit conformity or compliance
Collectivistic cultures
emphasise the needs and goals of the group as a whole over the needs and wishes of the individual
in these cultures, relationships with other members of the group, co operation and and compliance between people play a central role in each person's identitiy
therefore more likely to obey