Location and Uniform Effects
Location matters more than you might think. The original experiment took place at prestigious Yale University, and many participants said this gave them confidence that the research was legitimate. When Milgram moved the study to a run-down building, obedience dropped to 47.5% because the setting had less authority and credibility.
Uniforms are incredibly powerful symbols of authority. Think about how you automatically respect police officers or judges partly because of what they're wearing. In Milgram's study, the experimenter wore a lab coat to signal scientific authority.
When the experimenter left and was replaced by an ordinary person in everyday clothes, obedience crashed to just 20% - the lowest result of all the variations. This shows how much we rely on visual cues to decide who deserves our obedience.
Evaluation of these studies shows they're high in ecological validity since they test real-world factors. However, they're harder to control and replicate than laboratory studies, plus they raise serious ethical concerns about deceiving participants.
Remember: These situational factors explain why ordinary people can end up doing extraordinary things - both good and bad - depending on their circumstances.