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examBoard: AQA
examType: GCSE
lessonTitle: Proximity and Obedience
Have you ever noticed how it's easier to say "no" to someone over text than face-to-face? Or how you might feel more comfortable disagreeing with someone when they're not standing right next to you? This psychological phenomenon relates to proximity - the physical closeness between people - and how it affects our tendency to obey authority.
Key Definitions:
In Milgram's classic 1963 study, participants were ordered to deliver electric shocks to a "learner" (actually an actor) when they made mistakes. The experimenter (authority figure) was in the same room as the participant, creating high proximity. This setup resulted in a 65% obedience rate, with participants continuing to the maximum 450-volt shock despite hearing cries of pain.
When an authority figure is physically close, we feel more pressure to obey. Their presence creates immediate social pressure, makes monitoring our behaviour easier and creates a stronger psychological connection. It's harder to refuse someone looking directly at you than someone who's far away or can't see you.
Milgram was fascinated by how proximity affected obedience rates, so he created several variations of his experiment to test this specifically. These variations showed clearly that the closer the authority figure and the victim were to the participant, the more difficult it became to disobey.
The learner was placed in another room, but participants could hear their protests and cries through the wall. Obedience rate: 62.5%
The learner was moved to another room with no voice feedback - only banging on the wall at 300 volts, then silence. Obedience rate: 65%
The learner was in the same room, sitting close to the participant. Obedience rate dropped significantly to 40%
The participant had to physically force the learner's hand onto a shock plate. This created the closest proximity and resulted in the lowest obedience rate of just 30%.
The clear pattern showed that as the victim became more real and present to the participant, obedience rates dropped. Physical closeness created empathy and made it harder to continue inflicting harm.
In another variation, Milgram tested what happened when the experimenter (authority figure) gave orders by telephone rather than being physically present. When the experimenter left the room and gave instructions by phone, obedience dropped dramatically to 20.5%. Many participants even cheated by giving lower shocks than ordered but claiming they had followed instructions. This demonstrates how remote authority significantly reduces obedience levels.
One of the most important findings from Milgram's proximity variations was the concept of the "buffer effect." This refers to how physical distance or barriers create psychological distance, making it easier to harm others without feeling the full emotional impact.
Buffers reduce our emotional connection to the consequences of our actions. When we can't see someone suffering, it's easier to continue harmful behaviour. This explains why people might say cruel things online that they would never say face-to-face, or why drone operators might experience less psychological trauma than soldiers on the ground.
The buffer effect explains many real-world situations: why it's easier to drop bombs from planes than kill someone with a knife, why cyberbullying is so common and why people might be ruder over the phone to customer service than in person. Physical distance creates emotional distance.
Proximity is just one of several factors that influence obedience, but research suggests it's one of the most powerful. Let's evaluate the strengths and limitations of this research:
Understanding proximity effects has important applications in today's world:
Online interactions create extreme distance, potentially explaining increased aggression, reduced empathy and greater willingness to follow harmful instructions from anonymous sources.
Remote warfare technologies like drones create significant buffers between operators and victims, potentially making it psychologically easier to follow orders to attack.
Bringing people closer to the consequences of their actions (reducing buffers) might increase empathy and reduce harmful obedience in various contexts.
In exams, you might be asked to apply proximity concepts to scenarios. Remember these key points:
Proximity has a powerful effect on obedience. The closer we are to authority figures, the more likely we are to obey them. However, the closer we are to those who might be harmed by our obedience, the less likely we are to comply with harmful orders. Physical distance creates psychological distance through the buffer effect, making it easier to engage in behaviours we might otherwise find troubling. Understanding these effects helps us recognize situations where we might be vulnerable to inappropriate obedience and develop strategies to maintain our moral independence.
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