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Obedience as a function of experimenter competence.

L A Penner1, H L Hawkins, M C Dertke

  • 1Department of Psychology, University of South Florida, 33620, Tampa, Florida.

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This summary is machine-generated.

Experimenter competence significantly impacts participant obedience. When the experimenter (E) appeared incompetent, participant obedience decreased, suggesting laboratory findings on obedience may not generalize to real-world situations.

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Area of Science:

  • Psychology
  • Social Psychology

Background:

  • Laboratory studies on obedience often exhibit demand characteristics.
  • Experimenter (E) competence may influence participant (S) obedience.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the effect of experimenter (E) competence on participant (S) obedience.
  • To test the hypothesis that E incompetence reduces S obedience.

Main Methods:

  • Manipulated E competence by using a nervous E and "accidentally" killing a rat victim.
  • Operationalized obedience using simple reaction time differences based on potential harm or benefit to the rat.
  • Recruited 32 undergraduate female participants for a study on physiological effects of stress.

Main Results:

  • Significant differences in obedience were observed between competent and incompetent E conditions.
  • A significant "kill" effect on obedience was found under the competent E condition.

Conclusions:

  • Extreme laboratory obedience requires the participant to perceive the experimenter as competent.
  • Findings limit the generalizability of laboratory obedience studies to real-world contexts.