PSYC1001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Faked Death, Deindividuation, Life Studies
12 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
More common than we'd like to believe
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Undesirable - no one likes to admit they are obedient
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Creates social structure
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Behaviour change produced by the commands of authority
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Pressure is explicit/direct form of social influence
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Influence agent is an individual and not a group
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Differs from conformity
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Adult men signed up for a study in learning, arrived in lab and a middle aged man was already there and
experimenter assigned both to a learner or teacher. Situation was manipulated so the teacher was always the
participant, and confederate is learner.
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Student sat behind screen, teacher sit behind controller and the experiment behind the teacher
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Experimenter said that the teacher will issue an electric shock for getting the task wrong --> increase voltage
each incorrect answer (15 volts to 450 volts) clearly labelled dangerous shock
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The procedure
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University vs downtown location
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Predictions by experts: there will be no obedience <-- common sense
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2/3 of subjects went all the way to 450 volts
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Reaching 120 volts --> learner cries out in pain and says let me out
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Shock increases --> learner becomes silent (faked death)
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When teacher started protesting, the experiment will say "teacher, the procedure requires you to continue"
<-- simple command
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Results
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People are easily influenceable and can become killers
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Milgram's (1963, 1965)
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Showed us that Nazis exterminate 60 million Jews --> and reported to justice --> explanation was usually "I only
obeyed commands and I am not responsible"
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Humans are willing to comply to commands - obedient species
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62.5% obeyed,
Experiment was in same room
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Obedience declines even further
45% obeys
Remote participant
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21% obeys
Over phone
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49% obey
Victim is right next to participant
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65% obey
Victim is somewhere else
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30% obey!
Forcing victims hand on electrode
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10% obey
Effects of a disobedient model (when a person in front of the participant who stands up against
pressure)
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Teacher and learner, experimenter and teacher
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Role of proximity between
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Real life studies
Variables influencing obedience
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OBEDIENCE
Obedience
Deindividuation
Minority Influence
Deindividuation
4C - Social Psychology
Thursday, March 22, 2018
9:01 PM
PSYCH 1001 Page 1
Hofling et al (1966): 21/22 nurses obey
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22 nurses was rung up by a doctor, and the doctor says to inject a lethal dose of medicine into a patient
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Real life studies
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Asked first year students to participate in a study, to perform mathematical calculations and once they did
complete it they need to tear it up and put it in the bin next to them
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After the experimenters said to the participants --> debriefing --> the participants said that they
were valuable in learning about conformity
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Negative - cause some distress to the participants
But now in present time --> no university will conduct this experiment because we do not want to
cause harm to anyone
Ethical question - weighing up the positive and negatives of the experiment
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Should it or should not be studied?
How to devise a way to not harm anyone but still achieve the benefit of furthering scientific
knowledge to the world?
Methodological issues
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Orne was waiting for which student to say this is pointless and stop but they didn’t stop
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Laboratory obedience: Orne (1965)
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Milgram wanted to also test if participants still want to obey and thus did it in a rundown building --> even
without a university setting because he thought a university setting, people would not obey because they are
academically smarter?
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But results --> even when the experiment was not conducted in a university --> obedience was still very
strong
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When the experiment was conducted in a rundown office building obedience to 450v dropped to 48%
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Legitimacy of authority
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If another teacher also complied, obedience 92%
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If the other refused, only 10% went to 450v
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Social influences
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Interested in whether setting up a situation would by itself influence the social behaviour of others
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Set up prison - role play effects
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Some students played guards and others played prisoners
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Made it realistic - made the prisoners get arrested on morning of arrest
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Within two to four days - situation got out of hand even though all students were healthy - they turned
abusive and some prisoners showed signs of mental stress
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The experiment was to be interrupted
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Zimbardo showed that even though there were no social order, just putting people in a specific social
situation they will start to act that way
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Zimbardo prison simulation
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Situational influences on behaviour - Abu Ghraib
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Showed the exact abuse of the Zimbardo experiment
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Prison guards got excessive power and thus turned abusive
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This explained the…
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Interesting continuum of playing a role but then the role becoming real - role changes the normal behaviour
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Showed that obedience is universal
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Variations to the procedure
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When an individual loses their own individuality and become an extended part of a group which takes over your
normal control of behaviour completely
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E.g. food fights, vandalism, riots, mob violence, football hooligans, Cronulla riots
When group participation makes people feel aroused and anonymous; often lead to the reduction of normal
constraints against deviant behaviour
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DEINDIVIDUATION
PSYCH 1001 Page 2
Document Summary
Undesirable - no one likes to admit they are obedient. Behaviour change produced by the commands of authority. Influence agent is an individual and not a group. Adult men signed up for a study in learning, arrived in lab and a middle aged man was already there and experimenter assigned both to a learner or teacher. Situation was manipulated so the teacher was always the participant, and confederate is learner. Student sat behind screen, teacher sit behind controller and the experiment behind the teacher. Experimenter said that the teacher will issue an electric shock for getting the task wrong --> increase voltage each incorrect answer (15 volts to 450 volts) clearly labelled dangerous shock. Predictions by experts: there will be no obedience learner cries out in pain and says let me out. Shock increases --> learner becomes silent (faked death)
