Practice question · Select all that apply
Select every statement that these studies ACTUALLY demonstrated, as opposed to what is popularly claimed about them.
Hints
- Two options are the standard popular misreadings: one confuses Milgram's study with Asch's, and one turns a situational result into a claim about character.
- Milgram's participants sat alone with one experimenter - there was no group of shocking peers to conform to.
Show the answer
- B. Obedience fell sharply when the authority was distant or less official.
- D. Asch's participants gave answers they could see were wrong.
- E. Ordinary people gave shocks they believed dangerous because an authority told them to.
Why
Milgram showed situational pressure moving ordinary people, and that obedience is sensitive to the authority's proximity and legitimacy; Asch showed people denying the evidence of their own eyes. The two false options are the famous misreadings: that Milgram studied peer conformity, and that his result is about cruel dispositions rather than powerful situations.
Practise Conformity and Obedience: The Power of Social Influence
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