Charles k hofling biography wife

Charles K. The main aim of the Hofling Hospital Experiment was to investigate obedience to authority in a real-world setting, specifically within a hospital environment. The procedure involved a field experiment involving 22 real night nurses. Smith the researcher phoned the nurses at a psychiatric hospital on night duty and asked them to check the medicine cabinet to see if they had the drug astroten.

When the nurse checks, she sees that the maximum dosage is supposed to be 10mg. Smith is in a desperate hurry, and he will sign the authorization form when he comes to see Mr. Jones later.

Astroten drug

The medication was not real, though the nurses thought it was. The drug itself was a harmless sugar pill it was a placebo invented just for the experiment. An observer on the ward stopped the study when the nurse got the medication and approached the patient; the nurse began to contact another professional, or it had been over 10 minutes since the call.

In another hospital, 21 student nurses and 12 graduate nurses were asked to complete a questionnaire about what they would do if confronted with the experimental situation. Instead, they were given a questionnaire asking them how they would respond if faced with the same scenario described in the experiment.