Meta-Milgram: an empirical synthesis of the obedience experiments.
Milgram's famous experiment contained 23 small-sample conditions that elicited striking variations in obedient responding. A synthesis of these diverse conditions could clarify the factors that influence obedience in the Milgram paradigm. We assembled data from the 21 conditions (N = 740) in which obedience involved progression to maximum voltage (overall rate 43.6%) and coded these conditions on 14 properties pertaining to the learner, the teacher, the experimenter, the learner-teacher relation, the experimenter-teacher relation, and the experimental setting. Logistic regression analysis indicated that eight factors influenced the likelihood that teachers continued to the 450 volt shock: the experimenter's directiveness, legitimacy, and consistency; group pressure on the teacher to disobey; the indirectness, proximity, and intimacy of the relation between teacher and learner; and the distance between the teacher and the experimenter. Implications are discussed.
School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.
Nick
N
Haslam
School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.
Steve
S
Loughnan
School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.
Gina
G
Perry
D035841:Behavioral Research / Q000941:ethics / Q000379:methods*; D004291:Dominance-Subordination; D004597:Electroshock / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D016015:Logistic Models; D011582:Psychological Theory; D011678:Punishment / Q000523:psychology*; D035842:Research Subjects / Q000523:psychology*