8: Explainations for Obedience Flashcards
2 explanations for obedience
- agentic state
- legitimacy of authority
Outline Explanations for Obedience
- Legitimacy of Authority
One explanation for obedience is the ‘legitimacy of authority’ explanation.
This suggests that we are more likely to obey people who we perceive to have ‘real’ authority over us.
This authority is justified (legitimised) by the individual’s position of power within a social hierarchy.
An important factor in obedience refers to the amount of social power held by the authority figure.
If they appear to demonstrate, perhaps through appearance and manner, that they have social power (eg. by wearing a uniform such as a police uniform) we are more likely to obey them because we trust and respect them to be well-informed and worthy of the power invested in them.
Alternatively, we may over them because they have the power to punish us.
Either way, the perception is that their authority should not be questioned.
Evaluate Explanations for Obedience: Legitimacy of Authority
- Strengths
P: Evidence to support comes from one of the variations of Milgrams obedience research
E/E: He found that ppts were more likely to obey a researcher (authority figure) when the research took place in the prestigious setting of Yale university (65%) compared to the every day setting of a run down office (47.5%)
L: suggests we do obey more when we perceive the authority figure has having more legitimate authority and social power
P: It can explain how obedience can lead to real-life war crimes
E: Kelman and Hamilton (1989) argue that the My Lai massacre, in which 504 unarmed civilians were killed by American soldiers during the Vietnam war, can be explained in terms of the power hierarchy of the US army at the time
E: Therefore, the American soldiers could have obeyed because they are taught in the arm to be aware of commanding officers legitimacy and to unquestionably follow orders
L: this supports the LoA explanation and may also show that it can have practical applications such as preventing similar war crimes in the future
CAN USE Bickman (1984)
Evaluate Explanations for Obedience: Legitimacy of Authority
- Limitations
P: a problem is that many pots still obey in research when the AF lacks legitimate authority
E/E: For example, in Bickmans research ppts still obeyed people in every day clothing (49%) and in Milgrams research ppts still obeyed an AF in the everyday setting of a run down office (47.5%)
L: Suggests there must be other explanations for obedience and LoA cannot explain all of obedience
Outline Explanations for Obedience
- Agentic State
Another exp for obedience is the ‘agentic state’ explanation.
This is a mental state where you are more likely to obey an order because you see yourself as having no personal responsibility for your behaviour as you are acting on behalf of an authority figure (i.e. as their agent)
The process is often referred to as the ‘agentic shift’ because we ‘shift’ from seeing ourselves as responsible for our own actions (the autonomous state - individuals direct their own behaviour and take responsibility for the consequences) to seeing ourselves as an agent carrying out another persons wishes (the agentic state - individuals allow someone else to direct their behaviour and pass responsibility to them).
This frees us from the demands of our conscious (experiencing moral strain when you have to do something immoral to fiction as an agent of authority) and allows us to obey even a destructive authority figure.
Although people may not want to follow orders, they may feel unable to resist obeying due to binding factors.
In Milgrams study, typical responses to being questioned as to why they continued to deliver shocks included “I wouldn’t have done it by myself, I was just doing as I was told”
Evaluate Explanations for Obedience: Agentic State
- Strengths
P: Evidence to support from Milgram (1963)
E: he found that, when he asked a range of people before his obedience study to predict how far ppts would go before refusing to obey, they predicted that only 1 in 1000 would continue to the max level of 450V (this may represent the autonomous state)
E: However, in the study when faced with an authority figure claiming he would take responsibility, 65% of ppts continued to 450V (representing the agentic state)
L: Supports the idea that the ppts obeyed due to ‘shifting’ to the agentic state
Evaluate Explanations for Obedience: Agentic State
- Limitations
P: may struggle to explain individual differences
E: in Milgrams research, although 65% obeyed, many did not
E: for example, it could be argued that some personality types are more susceptible to the ‘agentic state’ than others
L: the explanation may be limited and cannot account for why only some people ‘shift’ to the agentic state whilst others do not
P: some real-life cases cannot be explained by the agentic state
E: Mandel (1998) described one incident where the Nazi German Reserve Police Battalion 101 shot civilians in a small town in Poland despite the fact they were told they did not have to do this and could be assigned other duties if they preferred
E: This suggests they obeyed despite not fully being able to ‘shift’ responsibility to the authority figure
L: again, it shows not all obedience can be explained as being the result of the ‘agentic state’
