Essay
Describe and explain research into situational variables and obedience (16)
- Module
- Social Influence
- Institution
- AQA
Milgram's variables Describe and explain research into situational variables and obedience
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“Describe and explain research into situational variables and obedience.”Situational variables are defined as features of the immediate physical and social
environment that may affect an individual’s behaviour. After Stanley Milgram’s baseline
study yielded such a high percentile of obedience, he was interested in creating variation
within this procedure to consider such situational variables and their resulting effect on
obedience.
The first situational variable that Milgram conducted was to alter the proximity of the
“experimenter”, a confederate who provided the instructions to administer the electric
shocks. It was found that when the “learner” was in the same room as the participant,
proximity fell to 40% from 65%. In the touch proximity condition, the teacher had to force
the learners hand onto the electric shock plate if they refused to place it there- obedience
dropped to 30%, and in the remote instruction condition, the experimenter left the room and
gave instructions from a phone call. Obedience fell further to 20%. It has been suggested that
decreased proximity allows the individuals to separate themselves from the consequences of
their actions and when this proximity increased, obedience too falls.
The second situational variable Milgram investigated was the effect that location had on
obedience. As the baseline study was committed in prestigious Yale university, Milgram
conducted a variant that instead occurred in a run-down, office building, and found
obedience fell to 47.5%. This has been explained by the prestigious university environment
providing greater legitimacy and authority to the research and the experimenter. This
perceived legimacy of authority increased obedience.
The final situational variable Milgram researched was the effect of uniform. In the baseline
study, the experimenter wore a lab coat, which may have contributed to the high obedience
rate. Therefore, in this variation the experimenter was taken out of the study by an
inconvenient phone call, and replaced with an “ordinary member of the public” who took
over the role of the experimenter. It was found that obedience dropped to 20% in this
condition, due to a decrease in the judgment of legitimacy of authority. Uniforms are said to
increase the legitimacy of authority.
Research support that reinforces the conclusions drawn from Milgram’s situational variables
were conducted by Bickman et al. Confederates were dressed in a milkman’s outfit, a suit and
tie, and a guard uniform, and instructed members of the public to complete certain tasks
such as picking up litter. People were twice as likely to obey the assistant dressed as a
security guard than the suit and tie- this illustrates the effect that perception and uniform
may have on obedience and thus provides support to Milgram’s own findings.
Another strength of Milgram’s research is that his findings have been replicated in other
situations. Further research conducted in an office situation instructed participants to say
stressful things to a confederate desperate for a job- the baseline of 90% of participants
obeying was reduced when the person giving the orders was not present. This mimics the
findings from Milgram’s proximity condition and therefore increases the validity of such a
conclusion.
However, a limitation of Milgram’s variations is that participants may have been aware that
the procedure was fake. The effect that demand characteristics may have on behaviour may
have been even more prevalent in the convoluted situational variables, for instance, Milgram
himself accepting that the uniform situation was likely to make participants suspicious.
Therefore, the artificial and contrived nature of Milgram’s conditions may mean that it is
unclear if the results yielded are due to true obedience or “play-acting,” as a response to
demand characteristics.
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