3. Gender and Culture

About this Lecture

Lecture

In this lecture, we think about how gender and culture can impact obedience, focusing in particular on: (i) some typical views relating gender to obedience, including that women are seen to be more nurturing than men, as well as being less aggressive; (ii) Costa and colleagues’ 2001 research into gender differences in personality traits across cultures; (iii) how these proposed personality trait differences in women might impact obedience levels in a study like Milgram’s; (iv) differentiating collectivist and individualistic cultures; (v) authority being ‘granted’ in individualistic cultures, with respect for authority in collectivist cultures being derived from the leader’s success at maintaining the values of the community; (vi) the tendency for there to be greater power distance between leaders and citizens in collectivist cultures; (vii) Blass’ research, which found that obedience levels were not different cross-culturally, as might have been first expected; (viii) Eagly’s research into sex differences in influenceability.

Course

In this course, Dr Ayoub Bouguettaya (University of Birmingham) explores factors affecting social influence. In the first lecture, we think about what social influence is and how to define obedience within it. In the second lecture, we think about Milgram’s research into obedience, with a specific review of variations seven, ten and thirteen. In the third lecture, we think about how gender and culture can impact obedience and influenceability. Next, we think about disobedience in the context of whistleblowing and its differentiation from obedience. In the fifth lecture, we think about how you as a psychologist would go about undertaking a study to explore obedience and disobedience. In the sixth and final lecture, we think about how to conclude on the concepts discussed throughout this course.

Lecturer

Dr Ayoub Bouguettaya is a lecturer in the School of Psychology at the University of Birmingham. Dr Bouguettaya’s research interests are in social psychology and how knowledge from that field can be applied to others, particularly health, including how we can apply social identity theory to societal problems, as well as investigating the different perspectives one might take on those issues. Some of Dr Bouguettaya’s recent publications include 'The relationship between gambling advertising and gambling attitudes, intentions and behaviours: a critical and meta-analytic review' (2020) and 'The Effect of a Food Addiction Explanation Model for Weight Control and Obesity on Weight Stigma' (2020).