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Factors Affecting Obedience - Coggle Diagram
Factors Affecting Obedience
Situational factors
Proximity to the victim
It was easier for participants to obey the order as the effects could not be seen
In a variation of the study by Milgram, when the victim/learner was in the same room and obedience fell to 40%. When the participant was asked to force the victim's hand on to the shock plate, it fell even further to 30%.
Proximity of the authority figure
This may be because it is harder to disobey someone directly or in their presence, rather than when they are not present
When the experimenter was in the same room, 65% of the participants gave the highest level of shock. However, when the experimenter gave the instructions by telephone, this fell to 25%
Authority Figure
The level of authority figure affects obedience
The experimenter gave orders while wearing a lab coat, thereby looking official and legitimate. When the experimenter was replaced by 'an ordinary member of the public', obedience fell to 20%
Legitimacy of the context
Removing the prestige and legitimacy of the context reduces obedience
While the original study was conducted at Yale university, When it was replicated in a run down office, obedience fell to 47.5%
Personal Responsibility
When the participant was instructed to collaborate with another person who gave the shock, rather than giving the shock themselves, obedience rose to over 90%
Participants took less personal responsibility for providing the shock to the victim/learner as someone else was inflicting the shock by pressing the switch, so they were more inclined/comfortable with following orders.
Support of Others
According to the bystander effect and the factors effecting conformity, we tend to be influenced by the behavior of others. Milgram placed two confederates alongside the genuine participant. One of these refused to continue at 150 volts and the other refused at 220 volts.
This seemed to offer support for the genuine participant's thoughts as there was disobedience from the confederates. In these experiments only 10% of participants went to 450 volts.
Personality Factors
Locus of control
Someone with an internal locus of control will likely be unwilling to obey due to their independence and confidence in their actions, and so may not listen to an authority figure
Someone with an external locus of control will be more likely to obey as they are more influenced by what someone tells them, especially a perceived authority figure
Authoritarian Personality
An authoritarian personality tends to be more respective of authority, and therefore will be more likely to obey.
Characteristics of an authoritarian personality
Respect for authority figures
Rigid beliefs and attitudes
A strong belief in justice
Right-wing politics
Aggressive to those inferior to themselves
In Milgram's study, people who did a test proving that they had an authoritarian personality, were more likely to obey