5 SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY NOTES
(1.1.1) Theories of Obedience
Agency Theory
A01- Milgram believed that if we all tend to be obedient, it must serve some function in
society. He suggested that people have evolved to obey authority as it gives them a
survival advantage within a group. He believed people were born with a prosperity to
obey (innate) and that through socialisation, this obedience is reinforced so we follow
orders of authority figures.
Individual differences- Says we have ‘innate; desire to be obedient- therefore 100% should
have obeyed in Milgram’s study but only 65%% did- doesn’t account for personality
difference
AO1 - He proposed humans exist in two states: Autonomous state- When a person acts on
their own free will, taking responsibility for their decisions and actions and Agentic state-
When an individual sees themselves as an agent of the authority figure and therefore the
person follows their instructions and acts on their behalf without taking responsibility
An agentic state is when a person follows the orders of an authority figure (1). They may
experience moral strain if it goes against their conscience. (1)
A03 - Hard to measure- Cannot be scaled, or gather data, too abstract, cannot be objectively
tested or measured- therefore cannot definitely say it is the agentic shift or when it takes
place
AO1 – moral strain: Many people in Milgram’s study experienced moral strain- which occurs
when people do something they would not choose to do themselves, and they feel is immoral
and unjust , this results in the individual becoming very uncomfortable and can lead to high
levels of anxiety- occurring when the individual thinks about dissent
AO3 - Research support- Milgram- moral strain that participants faced e.g., sweating,
shaking, 65% of participants obeyed- displaced responsibility through agentic shift
A01 – agentic shift: Shifting to the agentic state relieves the moral strain as the responsibility
for their actions is displaced onto the authority figure. They are uncomfortable carrying out
the actions (moral strain) but resolve this by seeing the authority figure as responsible.
AO3 - Real Life Application- Doesn’t lack mundane realism, can be applied to day-to-day
scenarios such as school, work and society- can be useful in understanding situations e.g.,
Nazi Germany and Adolf Eichmann
Evidence for the Agentic Shift from Milgram:
o Moral Strain- Participants experienced seizures, shaking, sweating and
frustration
o Dissent- Tried to withdraw despite 4 verbal prods and 35% obeyed
o Agentic Shift- Responsibility shifts onto experimenter- participants were
asked afterward why they did it and they said because the experimenter
told them to
,Social Impact Theory
AO1 - SIT seeks to explain how social influence causes changes in behaviour, attitudes, and
beliefs of individuals as a result of their interaction with others. Social Force - is a pressure
that gets put on people to change their behaviour Social force is made up of:
AO1 - Strength (how much power you believe the person has)- the, importance or intensity
of the influencing source e.g. Can be impacted by age, wealth, status
AO1 - Immediacy (how recent the influence is and how close it is)- The closeness in space
or time, As immediacy increases, so does degree of social impact. Three types- physical,
temporal and social.
In 2008, Pedersen et al found that physical immediacy of college students affected the levels
of alcohol consumption at university
AO3 - Role of immediacy (Hofling)- There is less research to support for the importance of
immediacy. Holfing found that 95% of nurses still obeyed doctor's instructions over the
phone, suggesting other factors are more important in determining whether a person obeys
rather than immediacy
AO1 - Number (the amount of people putting pressure on you to do something)- : The
numerical value of the sources of influence and as this numerical value increases, so does the
degree of social impact.
E.g., Asch (1961) found that three sources increased conformity but after that number was
reached, no further gains in social impact were made
Ao3 - Research support- Milgram, Bickman and Berkowitz (1969)- There is research
supporting aspects of social impact theory such as number and strength showed passers-by
would crane their neck and gawk as more confederates looked up to a sixth-floor window,
showing a number of sources can affect target
AO1 - Psychosocial law- the first source of influence has the most dramatic impact on
people but the impact lessens by each person that is added. For example, being watched by
one person can make you feel awkward, but two does not make you feel twice as awkward
E.g., Asch (1961) found that three sources increased conformity but after that number
was reached, no further gains in social impact were made
AO1 - Division of Impact- If all the social force is directed at a single person, that puts a
huge pressure on them to obey. But if the force is directed at several people, they experience
less pressure- this is known as diffusion of responsibility the more of you there are less
personal responsibility each of you will feel
Ao1: The strength of this ‘social force’ can be predicted from a formula: Strength (S) X
immediacy (I) X number of sources (N)
Ao3: Reliability- same measurements that are used are always the same: (I= f x s x n)
therefore results will be obtained in the same way
Ao3 - Reductionist- Using a formula cannot account for all factors E.g., Hard to measure
persuasion and personality types- Not an accurate representation to use a formula
, (1.1.2) Milgram’s (1964) study on obedience
Aim: To understand the extent of which people would go in obeying instruction if it meant
harming another person.
Ao1: 40 all-male volunteers sampled through newspaper ads
AO3 – • Population validity is increased due to the range of backgrounds of the sample
group so the findings can be generalised to males of different backgrounds BUT Sample size
collected by volunteer, therefore not representative of general population consisting of
people who don’t volunteer regularly
AO1 - Took place in Yale University Lab- makes study reputable through prestige. Subject
(teacher) under false guidance, is ordered to administer electric shock to a victim using a
simulated shock generator with 30 different marked voltage levels in 15-volt
increments
AO3 – The controlled settings are an artificial context for testing the nature of obedience in
society, so lacks ecological validity and lacks mundane realism
AO1 - Test shock given to participants 45V. The responses of the victim (confederate) are
standardized, and as the experiment proceeds, the subject is commanded to administer
increasingly more intense shocks, eventually reaching the point of 'Danger: Severe shock'. .
The point of rupture is when internal resistances become so strong, the subject refuses to
continue.
AO3: Ethical issues, deception and psychological harm, they were sweating and shaking
AO1: Participants encouraged to continue through four verbal prods:
Prod 1: Please continue.
Prod 2: The experiment requires you to continue.
Prod 3: It is absolutely essential that you continue.
Prod 4: You have no other choice but to continue.
AO3: Standardised procedure, replicable as can be tested for reliability SUCH AS BURGER
AO1: A degree of obedience may be specified with a numerical value, how big the shock was -
65% continued to the highest volt, 450V, All went to 300V
AO3: Useful application, can be applied to day-to-day scenarios such as school, work and
society- can be useful in understanding situations e.g., Nazi Germany and Adolf Eichmann
Ethical Issues of Milgram’s study
AO1 • Deception; participants were deceived about shocks/screams/stooge;
AO3 • Deception was necessary as recorded voices/stooge provided standardised controls to
improve reliability of experiment.
• Right to withdraw; was given to participants at the start of study;
• Verbal prompts made right to withdraw difficult to do and those who wanted to stop were
prompted to continue, although that in itself supports evidence for following authority
figure.
• Informed consent; was not obtained as they were given false aim;
• Lack of informed consent was necessary in order for study to be reliable/to reduce demand
characteristics/false behaviours.
• Distress; some participants became very distressed;
