Procedure A person would telephone a nurse, saying that he was a doctor and giving a fictitious name, asking the nurse to administer 20 mg of a fictitious drug named "Astroten" to a patient, and that he/she would provide the required signature for the medication later. A bottle labelled "Astroten" had been placed in the drug cabinet, but there was no drug of that name on the approved list. The label clearly stated that 10 mg was the maximum daily dose. McLeod, Saul. “Saul McLeod.” Hofling's Hospital Experiment of Obedience | Simply Psychology, Simply Psychology, 1 Jan. 1970, www.simplypsychology.org/hofling-obedience.html. Findings Hofling found that 21 out of the 22 nurses would have given the patient an overdose of medicine. None of the investigators, and only one experienced nurse who examined the protocol in advance, correctly guessed the experimental results. He also found that 21 of 22 nurses to whom he had given the questionnaire had said they would not obey the orders of the doctor, and that 10 out of the 22 nurses had done this before, with a different drug. McLeod, Saul. “Saul McLeod.” Hofling's Hospital Experiment of Obedience | Simply Psychology, Simply Psychology, 1 Jan. 1970, www.simplypsychology.org/hofling-obedience.html. Conclusions Through the experiment, Hofling was able to demonstrate that people are very unwilling to question those who are considered "authority figures", even when they might have good reason to. This experiment helped illustrate how one could be willing to do something they are ordered to do, even if they know what they are being ordered to do is wrong (such as giving a patient too much of a drug) . McLeod, Saul. “Saul McLeod.” Hofling's Hospital Experiment of Obedience | Simply Psychology, Simply Psychology, 1 Jan. 1970, www.simplypsychology.org/hofling-obedience.html . Hofling, C. K., Brotzman, E., Dalrymple, S., Graves, N. & Bierce, C. (1966). An experimental study of nurse-physician relations. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 143, 171-180. This study was also very important in relation to the Milgram experiment.
Procedure A person would telephone a nurse, saying that he was a doctor and giving a fictitious name, asking the nurse to administer 20 mg of a fictitious drug named "Astroten" to a patient, and that he/she would provide the required signature for the medication later. A bottle labelled "Astroten" had been placed in the drug cabinet, but there was no drug of that name on the approved list. The label clearly stated that 10 mg was the maximum daily dose. Findings Hofling found that 21 out of the 22 nurses would have given the patient an overdose of medicine. None of the investigators, and only one experienced nurse who examined the protocol in advance, correctly guessed the experimental results. He also found that 21 of 22 nurses to whom he had given the questionnaire had said they would not obey the orders of the doctor, and that 10 out of the 22 nurses had done this before, with a different drug. Conclusions Through the experiment, Hofling was able to demonstrate that people are very unwilling to question those who are considered "authority figures", even when they might have good reason to. This experiment helped illustrate how one could be willing to do something they are ordered to do, even if they know what they are being ordered to do is wrong (such as giving a patient too much of a drug) . Hofling, C. K., Brotzman, E., Dalrymple, S., Graves, N. & Bierce, C. (1966). An experimental study of nurse-physician relations. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 143, 171-180. This study was also very important in relation to the Milgram experiment.
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McLeod, Saul. “Saul McLeod.” Hofling's Hospital Experiment of Obedience | Simply Psychology, Simply Psychology, 1 Jan. 1970, www.simplypsychology.org/hofling-obedience.html.
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McLeod, Saul. “Saul McLeod.” Hofling's Hospital Experiment of Obedience | Simply Psychology, Simply Psychology, 1 Jan. 1970, www.simplypsychology.org/hofling-obedience.html.
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. McLeod, Saul. “Saul McLeod.” Hofling's Hospital Experiment of Obedience | Simply Psychology, Simply Psychology, 1 Jan. 1970, www.simplypsychology.org/hofling-obedience.html