P2.S.3Bickman's study of obedience and the effect of uniform

Leonard Bickman (1974) moved obedience research outside the lab and into the streets of New York City. He wanted to test whether a uniform alone is enough to elicit obedience.

Procedure

Bickman trained three male confederates to issue orders to passers-by. Each confederate appeared in three different costumes:

1. Civilian clothes (jacket and tie).
2. Milkman uniform.
3. Security guard / uniform with badge — designed to suggest authority.

They stopped pedestrians and gave one of three orders:

• Pick up paper bag: pointing to litter, asking the passer-by to pick it up.
• Coin for parking meter: standing by a parked car asking the passer-by to give the man across the road a dime for the meter.
• Move from bus stop: telling the passer-by to stand on the other side of a bus-stop sign.

The dependent variable was the percentage of pedestrians who obeyed each order.

Findings

• The uniformed guard got the highest obedience: about 89% for the parking meter, ~80% overall.
• The milkman got moderate obedience.
• The civilian got the lowest — around 38% obedience overall.
• Especially striking: people obeyed the guard's order to give a stranger money even when the order was strange and not strictly the guard's business.

Conclusion

Uniform acts as a powerful symbol of legitimate authority. It elicits obedience even when:

• The setting is not formal (street rather than lab).
• The order is unusual or inconvenient.
• The wearer has no real authority over the bystander.

The finding fits Milgram's agency theory: a uniform shifts people more readily into the agentic state.

Strengths

• High ecological validity: real street setting, real orders.
• Demonstrates that obedience effects are not lab artefacts.
• Quantified the effect of a single isolated variable (uniform) by comparing identical orders.

Weaknesses

• Sample: only New Yorkers; cultural variation possible.
• Confounding variables in a street setting: weather, time of day, individual mood.
• Ethical concerns: pedestrians had not consented to take part; deception about the confederates' identity.
• Uniform alone is one factor — Milgram's lab study isolated several others.

Connecting Milgram and Bickman

Both studies make the same theoretical point: legitimate authority drives obedience, and visible symbols of authority (lab coat, uniform) trigger compliance. Bickman extends Milgram's finding to the real world.