obedience- when an individual follows direct orders from a person of direct authority who could punish them

Milgrams study found that 100% went to 300v 12.5% stayed at 300v
65% went to 450v the top voltage
qualitiative data: there were findings of ppts extreme stress

+there is support from Beauvois that found that in a game show ppts were ordered to shock and 80% went to the highest 460v showing it wasnt just due to special situationn

  • Holland and orne said that there was low internal valdiiry as ppts didnt believe in the study. this is supported by perry as 1/3 of ppts in interview tapes didnt beleive it was true and 2/3 that did beleive were disobedient . suggesting obedience was only due to demand characterustcs.
  • support from sheridan and king as in their study when giving dogs real electric shocks 100% of females and 54% males did. Shows the effects were genuine as even when they were genuine shocks ppts still were obedient

there is an alternative explanation as Haslam found that they obeyed when given prompts. SIT said that they were obedient because they identified whith the scientific aims of the study . This may be a better explanation of Milgrams findings

How situational variable affect obedience

situational variables- features of the immediate physcial or social enviornment

prestige of a location

proximity- the closeness of ppts to an authority figure

touch proximity variation- 30%

on the telephone- 20.5% and fake shocks

experimenter and teacher close- 40%

uniform- a symbol of legitimate authority

run down office block- 47.5%

lab coat scientist replaced with civilian- 20%

evaluation

there is limitations of cross cultural as bond and smith found that cross cultrual replication only 2 were non western and the rest were similar to USA culture suggesting that Milgrams findings dont apply to all cultures

cross cultural replication- meeus and Raajmakers dutch replication ppts had to say mean stuff to people who really wanted a job and 90% did. there was also support from a prxoimity study. Showing that situational variables affect obedience in all cultures

low internal validity as Orne and Holland beleived ppts knew it was fake due to extra maniplualtion of variables suggesting that obedience was due to demand characterisitics.

  • there is support from Bickman on role of uniform . Found that ppts were likely x2 more to follow orders from a gaurd than a businessman in suit and tie.

ethical issues as mandel argues it gives an alibi for evil people, psychologically harming Holocaust survivors

situational explanations of obedience

agentic state- the state where a person is ableto be obedient as they beleive they are acting as an agent for a person of authority allowing them to ignore their conscience and take no responsibility

autonomic state- where they feel resposible and act on their principles

agentic shift- shift from autonomic state to agentic state

bindign factors- factors of the environemtn that allow tge poerson to ignore or minimise the damage of their behaviour and reduce moral strain like victim blmaing

legitimate authority- people are obedient to figures of direct authority which is legitimised by their position of power in the social hierarchy. This can be bad if they are destructive authority

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+explains findigns. As in milgrams study they would ask questions such as 'who is responsible?' and the experimenter would say he was and they would no longer object. Shows perception of responsibiltiy affects obedeicne

  • doesnt explain all findigns of obedience. in rank and Jacobsons study 16/18 nurses stayed autonomous but gave the excessive dose told by an authoirtiy figure and a minority of ppts in milgrams study reamined autonomous, showing that the agentic state doesnt always explain obedience
  • doesnt explain disobedience in rank and Jacobsons study when there was a rigidly hierarchal structure and a significant minority of milgrams ppts did despite recognising scientific authority . Thus suggests that disositional factors could have a greater influecne than legitimacy of authority on obedience.

that irt explains cultural differences in obedience when mantel found that 85% of germans went to the highest voltage. This is because didnt cultrues are brouigh up with difffernet perceptions of legitimate authority which affects their obediecne

dispositional explanations- any explanation that highlights the importance of personality

authoritarian personality- a type of personality that Adorno argues is susceptible to obedience. This is because they are submissive to people of authrotiy and dismissive of inferiors. They beleive society is weak and therefore we need leaders to strenghten traditional values

the origin- occurs in childhood (psychodynamic) parents are strict diipline and criticising of child and conditional love shown which leads to hositility which cant be expressed so scapegoating occurs whic hexpains hatred of inferioirs.

adorno study (F scale)studied 2000 middle class white americans on thei r unconscious views about other racial groups
people who scored high idetnified with strong people and against weak
conscious of status extreme respect to higher status
people with ap had a cogbitive style where there was no fuzziness betwen categories of people and they have stereotypes

greenstein said there was methodological error s in the f scale. As to gett an authoritarian personality all they would habve to do is press yes. So anyone with a response bias could be identified as authoritarian personality when theyre not

cant explain all the majority of germany in pre war as they had different personalities and it was very low chance that they would all have an authoritarian personality. This suggest a social identitiyy theory would be more valid to explain as they identified with antisemetic nazis and scapeg=aoted the jews than the authoritarian personality

milgram and elms support authoritrian [erspnality. did the F scale on two obedient and two disobedient people and foudn the disobedient people were lower o nthe f scale which shows presence of authoritiation personality affects obedience

the f scale is politically biased as it only measures the tendency towards an extreme form of right wing ideology. Christie and Jahoda argue the f scale is politically biased interpretation and point out the reality of left wing authoritarianism and ideologies are similiar by both emphasisng the importance of obedience. Adornos theoriyy is therefore not a comprehensive dispositional explanation that accounts for obedience acriss a whole political spectrum.