Other Obedience Test

Hofling's Hospital Experiment (1966)

Hofling set up a naturalistic field experiment involving 22 (real) night nurses. Dr. Smith (a stooge) phones the nurses at hospital (on 22 separate occasions) and asks them to check to see if they have the drug astroten. When the nurse checks, she can see that the maximum dosage is supposed to be 10mg.  When they reported to the ‘Doctor’, they were told to administer 20mg of the drug to a patient called ‘Mr. Jones’.  Dr. Smith was in a desperate hurry and he would sign the authorization form when he came to see Mr. Jones later on. The nurses were watched to see what they would do. The medication was not real, though the nurses thought it was.

If the nurse administers the drug, they will have broken three hospital rules:

1. They are not allowed to accept instructions over the phone.

2. The dose was double the maximum limit stated on the box.

3. The medicine itself as unauthorized, i.e. not on the ward stock list.

The drug itself was a harmless sugar pill invented just for the experiment.

Findings

21 out of 22 (95%) nurses were easily influenced into carrying out the orders. They were not supposed to take instructions by phone, let alone exceed the allowed dose (The drug was a placebo). When other nurses were asked to discuss what they would do in a similar situation, 21 out of 22 said they would not comply with the order.

Conclusion

Hofling demonstrated that people are very unwilling to question supposed ‘authority’, even when they might have good reason to.

Sheridan & King Experiment (1972)

Sheridan & King carried out a similar procedure as Milgram's Test but used a puppy as the ‘learner'. The puppy carried out a learning exercise and each time it made a mistake it would receive an electric shock. Participants, acting as the teacher, were led to believe that the shocks were becoming increasingly severe, as in Milgram’s original procedure. In fact the puppy was getting a small shock each time, just enough to make it jump and show obvious signs of receiving a shock. Eventually the puppy receives an anaesthetic to put it to sleep, and the participants think they’ve killed it. Most participants continue to give it electric shocks. The participants can be in n doubt that the puppy is receiving the shocks.

Bickman Obedience Test (1974)

People in the street are asked to pick up a piece of litter or stand on the other side of a bus stop. The person doing the asking is dressed either as a milkman, a civilian or a guard.  People were more likely to obey the guard, showing, presumably, the power of uniform or of perceived legitimate authority.