outline obedience milgram experiment responsibility and obedience diffusion of responsibility
TRANSCRIPT
Outline
Obedience
Milgram Experiment
Responsibility and Obedience
Diffusion of Responsibility
Extreme Obedience
Jonestown, Guyana, 1978• Jim Jones, cult leader of The People’s Temple, persuaded his followers to drink Kool-Aid laced with cyanide• 913 died, including >200 children poisoned by their parents• Factors
• cult members felt alienated from American society• cult members were in an isolated location• Jones was very charismatic• Jones promised life “in a better place”
Waco Texas, USA, 1993• David Koresh, cult leader of the Branch Davidians, maintained an armed standoff with the government for 51 days until he and cult members died in a fire of unknown origin• over 80 adults and children died
Extreme Obedience
An estimated 210 million people were killed by genocide in 20th century.
Nazi HolocaustGermany & Poland
(Europe)1941-19456,000,000
Rwanda(Africa)1994
800,000
Are the people who commit such acts inherently evil?
Adolf Eichmann supervised the
deportation of 6,000,000 Jews to Nazi gas chambers
Were Germans generally evil?
Was Eichmann an evil sadist or merely a cog in the wheel?
The Milgram Experiments
Obedience Willingness to obey the
commands of a legitimate authority
Procedures: ‘Teacher’ & ‘Student’: learn
word pairs ‘Teacher’ required to
administer shock to ‘learner’ for errors
Milgram Video: Questions How did Milgram make the
situation seem realistic? What was the task for the learner
and for the teacher? How did the learner protest? What sorts of things did the
experimenter say to encourage the teacher to obey? What made the experimenter seem like an authority?
How far did subjects go before stopping?
Did the real subjects enjoy shocking the learner? Were they sadists?
Did the subjects obey just because Yale researchers had legitimate authority?
… and a few things to think about…
Was the study ethical? Were the results worth it? Why did so many people
obey? What would you have
done in that situation?
Obedience Song
Obedience Song (4.067 MB)
….this is what happens when social psychologists have too much time on their hands…
Factors That Affect Obedience1. Remoteness of the
victim teacher and learner in
separate rooms: 65% obedience
teacher and learner in same room: 40% obedience
teacher and learner in physical contact (teacher had to put learners hand on apparatus): 30% obedience
2. Closeness and legitimacy of authority figure
“ordinary person” confederate instead of experimenter: 20% obedience
3. Personal characteristics no significant differences
based on sex (though women reported feeling more guilty), politics, religion, occupation, education, military service, or psychological characteristics
4. Cog in a Wheel “another subject” confederate
does the dirty work and real subject assists: 93% obedience
“another subject” confederate disobeys: 10% obedience
subjects told they are responsible for learner’s welfare: 0% obedience
Responsibility and Obedience
“I refuse to take the responsibility of him getting hurt in there.”
“Who takes the responsibility if anything happens to that gentleman in there?”
At 3:00 a.m., a woman drives home She starts walking towards her entrance. But, then, sees
a man standing at the edge of the parking lot Instead, she heads towards street for police "call box" The man grabs her She screams "Oh, my God, he stabbed me! Please help
me! Please help me!” IF PEOPLE SAW THIS: HOW MANY OF THEM WOULD
BE WILLING TO TRY TO HELP THE WOMAN?
(Helping includes picking up the phone to call the police)
Part 1
A. No one would be willing to try to help. B. One or two people would be willing to try to help. C. Half the people would be willing to try to help. D. More than half the people would be willing to try to
help. E. Most of the people would be willing to try to help.
(choose only ONE)
Someone from an apartment building floor higher up yells out "Let that girl alone!"
Hearing this, the killer starts walking away toward a white car. The neighbors turns out their lights But, the killer returns and starts stabbing her again. This time she screams "I'm dying! I'm dying!." IF PEOPLE SAW THIS, HOW MANY OF THEM WOULD BE
WILLING TO TRY TO HELP THE WOMAN?
Part 2
Neighbors again open their windows and turn on their lights; a city bus drives by; the killer runs to his car and starts to drive off . The woman is now struggling to make it to her apartment.
IF PEOPLE SAW THIS, HOW MANY OF THEM WOULD BE WILLING TO TRY TO HELP THE WOMAN?
Part 3
Now, it's around 3:45 a.m.: The killer returns again, searches for the woman, finds
her, and seems to deliver the final, fatal stab wound.
IF PEOPLE SAW THIS, HOW MANY OF THEM WOULD BE WILLING TO TRY TO HELP THE WOMAN?
Part 4
Queens, New York. A total of 38 neighbors watched Stabbed to death over 35 min period
The first phone call = 3:50 a.m. after Kitty was already dead.
Kitty Genovese
What is Wrong with These People?
They are New Yorkers: callous and uncaring individuals
Fundamental attribution error Blaming the others' personality while over-
looking the situational factors
When Do People Help??
“Bystander Effect”(Darley & Lantané )People are less likely to intervene if there are
more people around
As the number of bystanders increases, the likelihood of any one bystander helping decreases and the more time passes before anyone helps
The decrease in an individual's sense of responsibility to help in an emergency when other bystanders are present. Responsibility gets diffused out across all people present
Diffusion of Responsibility
Diffusion of Responsibility“I used to ask myself, ‘Why doesn’t somebody do something?!’ Then I
realized I am somebody.”-- Jane Wagner
Diffusion of Responsibility Seizure study (Latane & Darley, 1968) Procedure:
SS put in individual booths and told they would discuss personal problems via speaker system.
During the discussion, a confederate suffers a seizure over intercom.
Manipulation (IV): SS led to believe they were:
Alone In 3-person group In 6-person group
DVs: % who help and mean time to help
Darley and Latané (1968) - the "seizure" study
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
1 3 6
As the number of bystanders increased, the percentage of individuals who helped decreased
Percentage of Participants WhoAttempted to Help Victim
Darley and Latané (1968) - the "seizure" study
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
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160
180
1 3 6
As the number of bystanders increased, the time elapsing before help was given increased
Numbers of Seconds Passing before ParticipantsAttempted to Help Victim
Diffusion of Responsibility
The Smoke-Filled Room (Latane & Darley, 1970) SS showed up for an experiment and were asked to fill out a set of questionnaires. While filling out these questionnaires, the room began to fill up with smoke.
SS were tested in three conditions: 1) Alone in room 2) w/ 2 confederates 3) w/ 2 other "real" subjects DV: % subjects reporting smoke within 6 mins
Diffusion of Responsibility
0
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Alone 2 confederates 3 naïve subjects
Percentageof SSReportingSmoke
Diffusion of Responsibility
Chair Study (Gaertner & Dovidio, 1977)
Diffusion of responsibility among Whites may be heightened when the victim is Black
Chairs fall on a fellow subject (B or W)
DV: % who help
Results
0102030405060708090
100
White Victim Black Victim
No other witness2 other witnesses
Percentage who help