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Situational influence is the name given to the impact of environmental factors on obedience. Many social psychologists believe that our behaviour (specifically obedience levels) is determined by situational influences rather than dispositional influences.
Obedience is a type of social influence when people follow an explicit command given by a legitimate authority.
A key motive behind exploring the impact of situational influence is to see the extent of external and environmental factors, such as social context, pressure and authority figures, and how those factors affect the rate at which individuals obey.
This could explain why so many people, often in certain social contexts, follow orders even if it means causing harm to others. After all, many thousands of German soldiers readily followed orders to harm and kill people during the Holocaust. In Milgram's shock experiment (1964), 65 percent of participants administered high-voltage shocks to people when ordered to do so.
Why did Nazi soldiers and Milgram’s participants follow such orders? Was it because of the social contexts they were in?
Many studies have been conducted to see whether environmental factors affect obedience levels. These studies include variation studies of Milgram’s original shock experiment and cross-cultural studies that measure whether Milgram’s findings are applicable universally.
Since Milgram’s original shock experiment (1964), variations of his study were carried out where researchers manipulated independent variables to measure situational influence on obedience.
The independent variables were situational (environmental) changes. These were:
The proximity of the authority figure.
Uniform of the authority figure.
The proximity of the learner.
Presence of other participants.
Location of the study.
Original study (1964):
The authority figure was in the same room as the participant.
Obedience levels were high. 65 percent of participants administered high voltage shocks.
Variation study:
The authority figure was not in close proximity to the participant as they were in different rooms. The authority figure gave instructions to the participant over the phone.
Obedience levels decreased to 20.5 percent.
Individuals are therefore more likely to obey an authority figure if the figure is in close proximity, as it is more difficult to resist orders.
Original study (1964):
The authority figure wore a white laboratory coat.
Variation study:
The authority figure wore everyday clothes.
Obedience levels decreased to 20 percent.
Individuals are therefore more likely to obey authority figures with official uniforms or clothing, as it gives them status.
A uniform is an example of a situational influence. Are you more likely to follow orders from someone wearing a uniform over everyday clothes? unsplash
The original study (1964):
The learner was in a separate room from the participant. Participants could not see the learner in pain but could hear them.
Variation study:
The learner and the participant were placed in the same room when the shocks were administered.
Obedience levels decreased to 40 percent.
Result: Individuals are more likely to obey if they cannot see the result of their actions, namely the learner showing signs of pain or discomfort.
The original study (1964):
The learner was in a separate room from the participant.
Variation study:
The participant was forced to put the learner’s hand directly onto the shock plate.
Obedience levels decreased to 30 percent.
Result: Individuals are less likely to obey if they are in close proximity to the person they are harming, and if they have physical, direct involvement in the harm.
The original study (1964):
Only one participant administered the shocks.
Variation study:
Two confederates (individuals who knew about the experiment but were pretending to be participants) were present with the genuine participant. They refused to administer shocks higher than 150V.
Obedience levels decreased to 10 percent.
Result: Individuals are less likely to obey if they are in the presence of someone who is expressly disobedient.
The original study (1964):
The study was held on the campus of the prestigious and well-known Yale University in the United States.
Variation study:
The study was conducted in a city office building that was not in good condition.
Obedience levels decreased to 47.5 percent.
Result: Individuals are more likely to obey if the location has high status or credibility.
The variation studies showed that obedience levels can vary depending on situational influences. It was concluded that the proximity of the authority figure and the presence of other disobedient individuals had the highest impact on obedience.
A credible location can make us see authority figures as more trustworthy, leading to higher obedience levels. pixabay
Bickman tested the impact of clothing and uniform through a field experiment in New York City. Members of the general public were given instructions to either pick up a bag, give someone money, or stand to the side of a bus stop where doing so was prohibited. These instructions were given by three men. Their dress and resultant obedience rates are stated below.
Security guard: 76 % obedience rate.
Milkman: 47 & obedience rate.
Ordinary pedestrian: 30 % obedience rate.
This suggests that uniform and clothing impact how likely someone is to obey. This finding supports Milgram’s variation study that tested the uniform of the authority figure.
For years after Milgram’s shock experiment, research was carried out into cultural variations as situational influences. This means that cross-cultural studies were carried out to test whether the results of Milgram’s experiment varied across different cultures. As infamous as the results of Milgram’s shock experiment were, the experiment was only carried out on American men. American culture is significantly different from other cultures due to varying perspectives on obedience, respect for authority and individualism.
Psychologist Thomas Blass identified replications of Milgram’s experiment in several countries outside of North America. Not all replications of Milgram’s experiment had the same experimental conditions. For example, in the Jordanian experiment, participants were matched by sex. There was also a control group that gave participants the choice to administer electric shocks. In the Dutch experiment, participants were instructed to insult another individual rather than give them electric shocks.
Below are the results of the cross-cultural replications.
Country | Study | Participants | Obedience percentage |
Italy | Ancona and Pareyson (1968) | Students | 85 |
Australia | Kilham and Mann (1974) | Male and female students | 40 (male) 16 (female) |
UK | Burley and McGuiness (1977) | Male students | 50 |
Jordan | Shanah and Yahya (1978) | Students | 62 |
Spain | Miranda et al (1981) | Students | 90+ |
Austria | Apron (1985) | General population | 80 |
Netherlands | Meeus and Raaijmakers (1986) | General population | 92 |
Germany | Mantell (1971) | Male general population | 85 |
India | Gupta (1983) | Students | 42.5 |
South Africa | Edwards et al (1969) | Unknown | 87.5 |
The results of the replications show that obedience can vary across cultures, suggesting that cultural variations can act as situational influences on obedience.
The explanation of situational influence and the various studies have been subjected to considerable feedback.
Positives
Milgram’s original experiment has a lot of research support, therefore increasing the validity of his findings.
Situational influences appear to be good explanations for obedience as high levels of obedience were found cross-culturally. This suggests that environmental factors can highly affect how likely we are to obey orders.
Milgram’s variation studies show how seemingly ‘small’ adjustments to the environment can affect our obedience, eg clothing.
Negatives
In Milgram’s original experiment, 35 percent of the participants did not obey. This suggests situational influences may not fully explain obedience.
Milgram’s study, the variation studies and cross-cultural studies do not take into account dispositional (personality) influences that may affect obedience. This may be especially relevant for studies that showed low obedience levels, as found in Australian female students. Adorno (1950) studied how personality can affect obedience.
Milgram’s study and the variation studies lack ecological validity as they were conducted in artificial settings.
The majority of the cross-cultural studies were still conducted in Western settings, so the findings may not truly be cross-cultural.
The variation studies on Milgram's original obedience experiment found that factors such as proximity of the authority figure, proximity of the learner, uniform of the authority figure, location of the study, and presence of other disobedient participants contributed to situational influence.
Situational influences in psychology, specifically in social psychology, are the impact of environmental factors on behavior.
Examples of situational factors in obedience studies include the proximity of the authority figure, the uniform of the authority figure, location of the study and presence of other disobedient participants.
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