1. Obedience FURTHER RESEARCH AND EXPLANATIONS FOR WHY PEOPLE OBEY

2. Learning Objectives  To describe and evaluate further research into obedience  To explain 3 different reasons as to why people obey

3. Issues with Milgram  Was in a lab (artificial) setting  This limits the generalisability to other settings – namely, real-life  SO… - Hofling tested obedience in a real-life scenario - Would obedience be the same???

4. Hofling’s study  Obedient nurses  Read through the sheet making sure each section is stuck into the correct order on your template  There are 2 strengths and 2 weaknesses of the study

5. Why do people obey?  Legitimate authority  Gradual commitment  Personality factors  Summarise these explanations into your own words using the information sheet

6. Legitimate authority  We feel obligated to those in power because we respect their credentials and assume they know what they are doing. Social power is held by authority figures whose role is defined by society. This usually gives the person in authority the right to exert control over the behaviour of others and others usually except (e.g. as in Hofling’s obedient nurses).  Obeying authority figures is thought to be so deeply ingrained in us that we could obey even if we are being asked to do something unethical.

7. Gradual commitment  This is also known as the “foot in the door” effect. Once people comply with a small, seemingly harmless request, they find it more difficult to refuse to carry out more serious, escalating requests. This is explained by the desire to be consistent.  This can be shown in Milgram’s famous study. Participants had already given a smaller non-harmful shock so gradually became sucked into giving greater and greater levels of shock. They found it difficult to decide when to stop the procedure because each voltage increase was fairly small.

8. Personality Factors  Although some people believe the situation (i.e. the lab setting in Milgram’s study) caused obedience, others think that it may be due to individual characteristics; some people possess a personality which makes them more likely to obey.  Authoritarian personality – Has rigid believes, is hostile to minority groups but submissive/obedient to those in authority. Milgram found that highly authoritarian participants gave stronger shocks.  Psychopathic personality – violent and psychologically disordered people who lack empathy for others. Some believe that the obedience of Milgram’s participants was a socially acceptable expression of their psychopathic tendencies.

9. Exam Question  When you are a passenger on a train, you are much more likely to move to another seat if the ticket collector tells you to move than if another passenger tells you to do so.  Use your knowledge of why people obey to explain this behaviour (4 marks).