Lecture Notes on Milgram's Obedience Study and Authority

Introduction

• Discusses the influence of authority figures and Milgram's study on obedience.
• Examines why ordinary people follow orders that could harm others.

Stanley Milgram's Original Experiment

• Purpose: Investigate why Germans followed orders during the Holocaust.
• Method:
  • Participants recruited under the guise of a memory study.
  • Experiment involved a scientist in a lab coat and a confederate "learner."
  • Real participant assigned as "teacher" and instructed to administer increasing electric shocks for wrong answers.
• Findings:
  • 65% of participants administered up to the maximum voltage (450 volts).
  • Many participants showed signs of stress but obeyed the authority figure.

Explanations for Obedience

• Agentic State: People see themselves as agents for executing an authority figure's orders, feeling no personal responsibility.
• Autonomous State: People take responsibility for their actions, governed by personal morals.
• Legitimacy of Authority: Authority figures are obeyed due to socialization and visible symbols like uniforms.

Situational Variables Affecting Obedience

• Proximity: Greater distance between authority and participant reduces obedience (e.g., instructions via phone reduced obedience to 21%).
• Location: Moving from prestigious Yale to a rundown office reduced obedience to 47.5%.
• Uniform: Authority figures in uniform command more obedience.

Evaluating Milgram’s Research

• Methodological Criticisms:
  • Lack of mundane realism and ecological validity.
  • Possible demand characteristics and gender bias.
• Ethical Concerns:
  • Participants experienced stress, deception, and difficulty withdrawing.
• Positive Aspects:
  • Standardized procedures with reliable results.

Supporting Studies

• Hofling's Study: Real nurses obeyed dangerous orders from a supposed doctor.
• Bickman's Study: People obeyed orders more when the experimenter was in a guard uniform.
• Sheridan and King's Study: Participants shocked a live puppy; women were more obedient than men.

Adorno's Authoritarian Personality Theory

• Suggests some people are more prone to obedience due to a rigid, authoritarian personality.
• Formed through harsh upbringing leading to displaced anger toward weaker targets.
• F Scale: Measures authoritarian traits through agreement with statements.

Evaluating Authoritarian Personality

• Support: Milgram's study shows a need for dispositional explanations due to individual variations.
• Criticisms: Correlational research cannot establish causation, and questionnaire biases exist.

Conclusion

• Understanding obedience involves both situational and dispositional explanations.
• Obedience is influenced by authority legitimacy, agentic state, and personality traits like authoritarianism.

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Takeaway: Milgram's study reveals the powerful influence authority figures have on obedience, and it highlights the complex interplay of situational and dispositional factors in human behavior.