Variables of Obedience

Psychology: AQA A Level, topic 1.1.10

Situational Variables of Obedience

There are three factors that can affect the likelihood of a person being obedient to authority: proximity, location and uniforms.

Situational factors refer to external explanation of obedient behaviour.
There are three main things about the environment that can make obedience likely: proximity, location and the power of uniforms.

How physically close individuals are to the consequences of their actions affects how much they feel compelled to follow orders.
Being further away from the consequences of our actions leads to increased levels of obedience.
Milgram found that when the teacher and the learner were in the same room, and the teacher could see the learners’ distress, obedience levels dropped to 40%.
When the teacher was instructed to take the hand of the learner and place it on a metal plate to receive the shock, obedience levels dropped to 30%.

Just as an individual can be seen as an authority figure, places or locations can also been seen as more or less authoritative.
Locations such as prestigious universities or government buildings add to the legitimacy of the authority figure.
Obedience rates are higher in institutional settings and are deemed to have a legitimacy all of their own.
When Milgram carried out his study at the prestigious Yale University, obedience levels were higher than when he moved the experiment to an office block in a run-down part of town (62.5% to 47.5%).

Uniforms, such as those worn by police officers, add further legitimacy to an authority figure.
Milgram made sure that the researcher in his study was dressed in a lab coat.
Bickman carried out a study where ordinary people were told to pick up litter on a New York street, loan a coin to a stranger or move away from a bus.
Only 14% of people obeyed an individual dressed as a milkman, while 38% obeyed a person wearing a security guard’s uniform.

There are suggestions that people of an 'authoritarian personality' type are more likely to be obedient than others.

While situational factors involve the environment, dispositional factors refer to aspects of the individual that might make them more likely to obey.
These factors might include our personality.

Adorno et al. (1950) proposed the idea of an authoritarian personality.
Our personality stems from early childhood experiences and influences, especially parents.
Children raised in strict households are thought to be more likely to develop an authoritarian personality type than others.
People scoring higher on tests of authoritarian personality display higher levels of obedience to authority and higher levels of discipline.
Adorno designed a test called the F-scale, where F stood for fascist, that could measure level of authoritarian personality.

Elms and Milgram (1966) found a correlation between personality type and authoritarian personality using Milgram’s famous procedure.
Because Elms and Milgram conducted a correlational study, we cannot be sure that personality type was the cause of the high levels of obedience.
Correlation ≠ causation
The F-scale questionnaire is easily manipulated. This means participants might have been able to second guess the questions.
The F-scale also correlates with education levels. This provides a possible alternative explanation.

Which figure is more likely to be obeyed, based on their uniform?
In which location is an individual more likely to obey an authority figure?
Which scientists proposed the idea of an authoritarian personality type?
Which of these factors is most likely to cause a child to develop into an authoritarian personality type?