SITUATIONAL VS. DISPOSITIONAL DEBATE…

• What factors affect the likelihood of whether someone will obey an authority figure to the extent of harming

another individual?

SITUATIONAL DISPOSITIONAL

• Authoritarian Personality

• Agentic State• Legitimate Authority• Proximity to Victim• Proximity to Authority• Presence of Allies• Diffusion of Responsibility

SITUATIONAL ARGUMENT

• Situational Factors are those present in the social situation that may influence aggressive behaviour

LATANE’S SOCIAL IMPACT THEORY

• Social impact theory was created by Bibb Latané in 1981 and consists of 3

basic rules which consider how individuals can be “targets of social

influence”

LATANÉ’S SOCIAL IMPACT THEORY

• 1. Strength… of the social force

• 2. Immediacy… of authority and victim

• 3. Number… of allies

MILGRAM’S SITUATIONAL FACTORS…• Original Experiment = 65% went to 450v• Run down office (lack of legitimacy) = 48%• Proximity of Learner (same room) = 40%• Proximity of Learner (holding hand) = 30%• Proximity of Authority = 20%• Presence of rebellious allies = 10%• Someone else giving shock = 93%

SITUATIONAL VS. DISPOSITIONAL DEBATE

• Does Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment (1971) support the situational or dispositional argument?

SITUATIONAL ARGUMENT... ABU GHRAIB

• In 2003, an Iraqi torture camp was exposed in the media after photos of violence and humiliation were leaked

SITUATIONAL ARGUMENT… ABU GHRAIB

• Who’s to blame? • Are the American military involved in the camp inherently evil? • Or did the context of the military and prison institution influence

their aggressive behaviour?

• Zimbardo provided an expert witness during the trials of the American soldiers, arguing that their behaviour was a result of the situation which led good soldiers to do bad things…

SITUATIONAL ARGUMENT #1…

• Status & Power

The guards involved in Abu Ghraib were army reservists and ‘bottom of the barrel’. They had little control over their duties and were made to work night shifts. They asserted their power over the

prisoners instead.

Superior guards rarely made checks during these shifts.

SITUATIONAL ARGUMENT #2…

• Revenge & Retaliation

Prisoners were ‘tarred with the same brush’ as the terrorists who had been at war with American soldiers.

Humiliation was used to teach them a lesson

SITUATIONAL ARGUMENT #3…

• Deindividuation & Helplessness…

The behaviour was in automatic response to the expected authoritative role and the prison environment.

It was not pre-meditated.

• “…Instead of embracing the moral high ground that distances us good folks from the bad ones and gives

short shrift to analysis of causal factors in that situation the situational approach gives those

‘others’ the benefit of attributional charity”

HOWEVER…

• The situational argument is a Deterministic argument

• It assumes that all of us will behave in the same manner when put in the right situation

• It fails to explain why 35% were disobedient…

THE DISPOSITIONAL ARGUMENT…

• Explains behaviour according to characteristics of the individual; (i.e. Genetics; Personality)

AUTHORITARIAN PERSONALITY

ADORNO’S F-SCALE

RIGHT-WING AUTHORITARIANISM

KEY STUDY (ELMS & MILGRAM)

RM: EVALUATION OF STUDIES INTO OBEDIENCE

WHAT MAKES SOME PEOPLE MORE OBEDIENT THAN OTHERS?

Pacifists in WW2

Nazis in WW2What differences are there between the pacifists and the Nazis in WW2…

What made the pacificists “disobedient?”

ADORNO (1950)

• “Obedience to authority is determined by an individuals personality”

• Adorno (1950) Wanted to test the idea that a person may be obedient because of their personality and developed the F-Scale as a measure of ‘Authoritarian Personality’

ADORNO’S F-SCALE

• Write down a -4 if you very strongly disagree with the statement. • Write down a -3 if you strongly disagree with the statement. • Write down a -2 if you moderately disagree with the statement. • Write down a -1 if you slightly disagree with the statement. • Write down a +1 if you slightly agree with the statement.

• Write down a +2 if you moderately agree with the statement. • Write down a +3 if you strongly agree with the statement.

• Write down a +4 if you very strongly agree with the statement.

1. One of the most important things children should learn is obedience to authority2. All children need strict discipline3. All children should learn respect for authority4. Some professionals in society (i.e. businessmen) are much more than others (i.e. artists)5. If you have a problem, it is best not to think about it. You should keep busy with other more

cheerful things6. If people talked less and worked more, everyone in society would be better off7. If people commit serious crimes, such as rape, prison isn’t enough and they should be publicly

punished.8. Many problems in society faces today would be solved if we could somehow get rid of the

less intelligent members9. Homosexuals should be considered in the same category as homosexuals10. If you are not taught manners from a young age, you cannot expect to mix with decent people later in life.11. Rules are there for people to follow, not change

AUTHORITARIAN PERSONALITY

• Resistant to change, prefer routine

• Hold traditional beliefs

• Stick rigidly to beliefs

• Obedient to authority figures

• Look down on those of lower status

ADORNO, (1950)

• Adorno found a positive correlation between scores on the F-Scale and strict upbringing.

ADORNO, (1950)

• He concluded that those who have been brought up with strict, authoritarian parents, are accustomed to obeying orders from figures of authority.

ADORNO AND MILGRAM…

• How can Adorno’s Authoritarian Personality be applied to Milgram’s findings?

• Does is support the situational or dispositional argument?

RIGHT – WING AUTHORITARIANISM

• Bob Altemeyer (1981) refined the Authoritarian Personality and identified 3 key attributes that he referred to as Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA)

1. One of the most important things children should learn is obedience to authority2. All children need strict discipline3. All children should learn respect for authority4. Some professionals in society (i.e. businessmen) are much more than others (i.e. artists)5. If you have a problem, it is best not to think about it. You should keep busy with other more

cheerful things6. If people talked less and worked more, everyone in society would be better off7. If people commit serious crimes, such as rape, prison isn’t enough and they should be publicly

punished.8. Many problems in society faces today would be solved if we could somehow get rid of the

less intelligent members9. Homosexuals should be considered in the same category as homosexuals10. If you are not taught manners from a young age, you cannot expect to mix with decent people later in life.11. Rules are there for people to follow, not change

BOB ALTEMEYER (1981) RWA

• 1. Conventionalism – Adhere to conventional norms

• 2. Authoritarian Aggression – Aggressive toward those who violate norms

• 3. Authoritarian Submission – Uncritical submission to Legitimate Authorities

SUPPORT FOR THE DISPOSITIONAL ARGUMENT…• 2 Key studies support the idea of dispositional factors influencing

the likelihood of an individual obeying…

1) Altemeyer (1981)

2) Elms & Milgram (1966)

ROB ALTEMEYER (1981) RWA

• Replicated Milgram’s experiment…

• However… the participants were allowed to choose the voltage they administered to the ‘learners’

• Before the experiment, each ppt was given an RWA scale

BOB ALTEMEYER (1981) …

• Altemeyer found a positive correlation between RWA levels and voltage administered.

ROB ALTEMEYER (1981) …

• There was also one more difference…

HOW MANY PUSHED THE BUTTON?

• 91% of ALL participants!!!

• Low RWA took slightly longer to push the button, and high RWA took on average 4 seconds. Yet the majority pressed it

KEY STUDY FOR THE AUTHORITARIAN PERSONALITY…

• Was Obedience in Milgram’s experiment as a result of situational or dispositional factors?

• Elms & Milgram (1966)

ELMS & MILGRAM (1966)

• conducted a follow-up study of Milgram’s original experiment…

• Interviewed 20 of the ppts who had given the final shock and 20 ppts who were ‘defiant’ and stopped before 450v

• All ppts were given the F-scale and interviewed with open questions about their upbringing and attitudes to experimenter and ‘learner’

ELMS & MILGRAM (1966)

• Higher levels of Authoritarianism in the obedient ppts

• Obedient ppts also reported being less close to the father’s during childhood and were more likely to describe them in negative terms who strictly disciplined

• Obedient ppts saw the experimenter as admirable and the learner much less so.

CRITICISMS OF THE DISPOSITIONAL APPROACH…

• Doesn’t explain the differences in obedience in the variations of Milgram’s study…

If the Deindividuation argument is completely true, the differences in situations (downtown office etc…) should also

have received an obedience rate of 65%.

EVALUATION OF THE DISPOSITIONAL ARGUMENT

• Not all of the obedient ppts had strict upbringings…

• Authoritarian personality was not present in all obedient ppts.

RESEARCH METHODS…• 1. Does the F-scale consist of Open or Closed Questions? (1 mark)• 2. The research found that people who were high on Authoritarianism

were also more obedient. Is this a positive or negative correlation? Explain your answer. (2 marks)

• 3. Sketch a graph to show the relationship you identified in Q2. Ensure you label the axes carefully (3 marks)

• 4. In the second part of the study, the researchers decided to interview ppts instead of using questionnaires. Give 2 advantages of using an interview rather than a questionnaire in this study. (2 + 2 marks)

• 5. Suggest an open question that might have been used in the interviews. Explain why your question is an open question (2 marks)