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Personality Predicts Obedience in a M ilgram Paradigm
Author(s) -
Bègue Laurent,
Beauvois JeanLéon,
Courbet Didier,
Oberlé Dominique,
Lepage Johan,
Duke Aaron A.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of personality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.082
H-Index - 144
eISSN - 1467-6494
pISSN - 0022-3506
DOI - 10.1111/jopy.12104
Subject(s) - milgram experiment , psychology , obedience , social psychology , conscientiousness , personality , agreeableness , population , biology and political orientation , big five personality traits , context (archaeology) , politics , developmental psychology , extraversion and introversion , sociology , demography , political science , paleontology , biology , law
This study investigates how obedience in a M ilgram‐like experiment is predicted by interindividual differences. Participants were 35 males and 31 females aged 26–54 from the general population who were contacted by phone 8 months after their participation in a study transposing M ilgram's obedience paradigm to the context of a fake television game show. Interviews were presented as opinion polls with no stated ties to the earlier experiment. Personality was assessed by the Big Five Mini‐Markers questionnaire ( S aucier, 1994). Political orientation and social activism were also measured. Results confirmed hypotheses that Conscientiousness and Agreeableness would be associated with willingness to administer higher‐intensity electric shocks to a victim. Political orientation and social activism were also related to obedience. Our results provide empirical evidence suggesting that individual differences in personality and political variables matter in the explanation of obedience to authority.