Lesson 1.1.3

1.1.3 Factors affecting obedience and dissent Quiz: Pearson Edexcel Psychology, Unit 1

20 questions

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Lesson 1.1.3, Factors affecting obedience and dissent: 20 multiple choice questions for the Pearson Edexcel Psychology (9PS0), Unit 1: Social psychology, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. Which situational factor increased obedience in Milgram's research when the experiment was held in a prestigious setting?

    • The time of day, since morning sessions produced more obedience than afternoon sessions did
    • The colour of the walls, since bright colours made participants feel calmer during the procedure
    • The size of the room, since a larger room made participants feel less observed by others
    • The legitimacy of the setting, since a prestigious university made the authority seem more credible

  2. Which individual difference is linked to obedience in the research on personality?

    • Personality traits such as authoritarianism, which predict greater willingness to accept authority
    • Handedness, since left-handed participants were much more likely to refuse instructions from experimenters
    • Hair colour, which was shown to influence how people respond to instructions from authority figures
    • Height, since taller people were consistently found to resist authority more often than shorter people

  3. Bickman (1974) studied obedience in a field setting. What did the study find about uniforms?

    • People were less likely to obey a request from someone in a uniform, as uniforms caused suspicion in strangers
    • People were more likely to obey a request from someone in a uniform than from someone in ordinary clothes
    • People obeyed only when the uniform was red, showing that colour rather than dress affected compliance
    • People obeyed equally whether the requester wore a uniform or ordinary clothes, showing no effect of dress

  4. Which statement about gender and obedience is best supported by the research described?

    • Gender differences in obedience are small or inconsistent, so gender is not a strong predictor of obedience
    • Women are always far more obedient than men across every study and every type of authority figure
    • Men are always far more obedient than women across every study and every type of authority figure
    • Gender has no effect on obedience at all, so the research cannot identify any individual difference

  5. Which factor is most likely to reduce obedience according to Milgram's variation with two rebelling peers?

    • Social support from dissenting peers, who model refusal and make disobedience seem acceptable
    • A longer session, which tires participants and makes them accept the instructions more readily overall
    • The presence of the experimenter in the room, which increases the participant's sense of legitimacy
    • A higher voltage on the shock generator, which makes the participant feel more responsible for the learner

  6. How does culture affect obedience according to the cross-cultural evidence on Milgram's research?

    • Obedience is much higher in all collectivist cultures than in any individualist culture studied so far
    • Obedience is much higher in individualist cultures than in collectivist ones in every replication study
    • Obedience is unaffected by culture because it is entirely determined by the genes passed down in families
    • Obedience rates have been found to be broadly similar across cultures, with some variation between studies

  7. A researcher finds that obedience is higher when the authority is close and in charge of the situation. Which factor is this?

    • Age, since close authority figures are always older than the participants in the study
    • Personality, since close authority figures always attract participants with high levels of conscientiousness
    • Proximity and the authority's position, which are situational factors that affect obedience
    • Gender, since close authority figures are usually male and male participants obey them more readily

  8. Which of these is an example of a situational factor that reduces dissent (resistance to obedience)?

    • A research setting with a visible and open exit that allows the participant to leave at any time
    • A dissenting peer who refuses to continue, showing that disobedience is possible in the situation
    • An authority figure who is physically close and presents instructions as necessary for the study
    • A participant who has a personality high in independence and self-direction in decision-making

  9. A researcher argues that obedience results from a combination of personality and situation. Which view is this?

    • A purely biological view, in which behaviour is caused only by neurotransmitters in the brain
    • An interactionist view, in which personality and situation together influence behaviour
    • A purely environmental view, in which behaviour is caused only by learning from reinforcement
    • A purely cognitive view, in which behaviour is caused only by the conscious decisions a person makes

  10. Which evaluation point is most relevant to research on individual differences in obedience?

    • Individual differences research relies on the learner's responses, which are always reliable and valid
    • Individual differences research is always experimental, so cause and effect are always established clearly
    • Individual differences research can only use one participant at a time, so it is never generalisable at all
    • Individual differences research may be correlational, so cause and effect cannot be established

  11. Why might a participant who scores high on authoritarianism be more obedient in a laboratory study?

    • Authoritarian individuals are always more intelligent, so they understand the study's purpose and comply with it
    • Authoritarian individuals tend to accept the authority of those in charge and follow rules more readily
    • Authoritarian individuals are always more sociable, so they obey whenever they are in a group of peers
    • Authoritarian individuals are always more anxious, so they obey to avoid the discomfort of disagreeing with others

  12. A participant refuses to continue at 150 volts. Which factor best explains this dissent?

    • A combination of individual differences, such as independence, and situational pressure to refuse
    • The participant is simply genetically unable to follow orders from any authority figure at all
    • The participant was randomly assigned to a condition that always leads to refusal at this level
    • The participant has no interest in the study and is therefore not affected by any factor in the situation

  13. Which is the best description of 'dissent' in the context of obedience research?

    • Full and immediate agreement with an authority figure's instructions, following them without question
    • A general dislike of other people, which causes a person to avoid all social situations completely
    • An emotional reaction to a learner, shown through crying but not through any change in behaviour
    • Resistance to an authority figure's instructions, refusing to do what is asked

  14. Which study used a field setting to examine obedience, rather than a laboratory?

    • Milgram's telephonic instructions variation, which was run in a laboratory with an experimenter present
    • A laboratory study of gender differences in obedience, which kept all participants in one controlled room
    • Bickman's study of people responding to a requester in a uniform in an everyday setting
    • Milgram's original baseline study, which was run in a laboratory at Yale University in New Haven

  15. Which factor is least likely to increase obedience in the situations described?

    • A legitimate authority figure in a prestigious setting, who presents the task as important for science
    • A uniform worn by the requester, which signals legitimacy and increases compliance in everyday settings
    • A dissenting peer who refuses to continue, which gives the participant a model of resistance
    • A close and present authority figure who insists that the participant must continue with the procedure

  16. A study finds that participants who are told the authority figure is an ordinary man obey less. What does this show?

    • Obedience is unaffected by the authority figure's identity because the procedure is always the same
    • Obedience is fixed by the participant's age and cannot be changed by the identity of the authority
    • Perceived legitimacy of the authority figure is a key factor in whether people obey
    • Obedience depends only on the number of learners present in the room during the procedure

  17. In Milgram's research, what was the main purpose of the variation studies?

    • To confirm that deception has no effect on participants and therefore can always be used in research
    • To identify which situational factors increase or decrease obedience and dissent under controlled conditions
    • To show that obedience is solely determined by the participant's education and social background
    • To demonstrate that every participant will eventually reach the maximum shock level in any setting

  18. Which evaluation of the individual differences in obedience research is most accurate?

    • Findings on personality completely explain all obedience, leaving no role for situational factors at all
    • Findings on personality show that obedience is impossible to predict from any individual difference at all
    • Findings on personality prove that obedience is entirely inherited, so environment has no role to play
    • Findings on personality may be useful, but personality explains only part of the variation in obedience

  19. Which individual difference was found to vary between men and women in obedience research?

    • Women consistently obeyed to the maximum level of shock in every replication, so men never obeyed at all
    • Gender differences in obedience are small or inconsistent, so they are not a strong predictor on their own
    • Men consistently obeyed to the maximum level of shock in every replication, so women never obeyed at all
    • Gender had a very large effect in every study, with almost all women refusing to obey at the first prompt

  20. In the research on situation, which factor is most likely to encourage obedience?

    • A dissenting peer who refuses to continue, which gives the participant a model of how to resist the instructions
    • A close, uniformed or prestigious authority who presents the task as legitimate and necessary
    • A setting that is run-down and informal, which lowers the perceived legitimacy of the authority figure in the study
    • A distant, anonymous authority who gives instructions by post and cannot be seen by the participant at all

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