The Biggest Mistake A Level Psychology Students Make in Obedience Questions (And How to Avoid It)
If you're studying A Level Psychology, there's one topic that many students find difficult: obedience.
After more than 25 years of teaching Psychology and working as an AQA examiner, I've noticed the same pattern year after year. Students often know Milgram's study in great detail, yet still fail to achieve the marks they deserve.
The reason usually isn't a lack of knowledge. It's because they don't know how to use that knowledge effectively in the exam.
Mistake 1: Writing Everything You Know About Milgram
Many students believe that the more they write about Milgram's original experiment, the better their answer will be.
Unfortunately, that isn't how A Level Psychology is assessed.
Examiners reward students who answer the specific question that has been asked. A concise, well-focused answer that directly addresses the question will always score more highly than pages of irrelevant detail.
Before you begin writing, ask yourself:
What is this question actually asking me to explain or evaluate?
Mistake 2: Confusing Explanation with Evaluation
This is probably the biggest mistake I see as an examiner.
Many students think they are evaluating when they are actually explaining.
For example, a student might write:
"Participants were less likely to obey when they were closer to the learner because they felt more responsible for the consequences of their actions."
This is a good explanation of why obedience fell, but it is not evaluation. It demonstrates knowledge of the theory.
Evaluation goes one step further. It asks whether the evidence is convincing, whether there are limitations, or what the findings tell us about obedience.
For example:
"Although proximity reduced obedience from 65% to 40%, a substantial proportion of participants still administered the maximum 450-volt shock. This suggests that proximity alone cannot explain obedience and that other situational factors, such as the legitimacy of the authority figure, also influence whether people obey."
Notice the difference. Rather than simply explaining the findings, this paragraph considers what they mean.
The Three Situational Variables Every Student Must Know
Milgram investigated several situational variables that influenced obedience. These appear regularly in short-answer, application and essay questions.
Proximity
When the teacher and learner were placed in the same room, obedience fell from 65% to 40%. Although this reduction was substantial, many participants still obeyed to the maximum 450-volt shock. This suggests that being physically closer to the victim increases feelings of personal responsibility, making obedience less likely, but it does not eliminate obedience altogether.
Location
When Milgram moved the experiment from the prestigious surroundings of Yale University to a run-down office building, obedience fell to 47.5%. This suggests that people are more likely to obey when authority is associated with a respected institution, increasing its perceived legitimacy.
Uniform
When the experimenter was replaced by an ordinary member of the public rather than someone wearing a laboratory coat, obedience dropped to 20%. This demonstrates the powerful influence of symbols of legitimate authority on obedient behaviour.
Looking for the Pattern
One of the best ways to impress an examiner is to look beyond individual findings and identify the overall pattern.
Although proximity, location and uniform all reduced obedience, none of these situational variables eliminated obedience completely. Many participants still obeyed to the maximum 450-volt shock.
However, two of Milgram's variations produced a striking result.
When participants were allowed to choose the shock level themselves, none administered the maximum 450-volt shock. Likewise, when two experimenters gave conflicting instructions, obedience to the maximum shock also fell to 0%.
What do these two variations have in common?
In both cases, participants could no longer simply follow the instructions of a clear, legitimate authority figure. They had to make their own decision, or they were faced with conflicting commands. As a result, they could no longer displace responsibility onto the experimenter.
This pattern provides strong support for Milgram's agentic state explanation. People are most likely to obey when they perceive that responsibility lies with a legitimate authority figure. When personal responsibility increases, or when authority becomes unclear, obedience is much less likely.
Examiner's Tip
One of the easiest ways to improve your marks is to ask yourself one simple question every time you write an evaluation point:
"So what?"
What does this evidence actually tell us?
Does it support the explanation?
Does it challenge it?
Does it suggest the explanation only works under certain conditions?
Adding just one sentence that explains the significance of the evidence can often move an answer into a higher mark band.
Remember:
AO1 explains what happened and why.
AO3 judges the quality, importance or implications of the evidence.
Knowing the difference between these assessment objectives is one of the fastest ways to improve your exam performance.
Try This Exam Question
A manager in a large company instructs an employee to work unpaid overtime. Although the employee believes this is unfair, they agree because the manager is wearing company uniform and is known to hold a senior position.
Using your knowledge of situational variables affecting obedience, explain the employee's behaviour. (8 marks)
Before writing your answer, underline the clues in the scenario.
In this example, the references to the manager's uniform and senior position should immediately make you think about legitimate authority and the situational variables that influence obedience.
The strongest answers don't simply describe Milgram's research—they apply it directly to the scenario.
Final Thoughts
Success in A Level Psychology isn't about memorising more information than everyone else.
It's about understanding how psychological research fits together, applying evidence to unfamiliar scenarios and knowing when the examiner expects explanation rather than evaluation.
As an experienced AQA examiner and Psychology teacher, I help students develop these skills through personalised one-to-one tuition. Lessons focus not only on learning the content, but also on mastering AO1, AO2 and AO3 so students can approach their exams with confidence.
If you're looking for support with A Level Psychology or would like to find out more about one-to-one tuition, I'd be delighted to help.