Authority

Question 1

Agentic state

Answer 1

‘A mental state where we feel no personal responsibility for our behaviour because we believe ourselves to be acting for an authority figure.’

Question 2

Eichmann

Answer 2

He was in charge of Nazi death camps and his defence was that he was only obeying orders (agentic state).

Question 3

What did Milgram propose about obedience to destructive authority?

Answer 3

That it occurs because a person doesn’t take responsibility, they are acting for someone else (become an ‘agent’). This agent experiences high anxiety when they realise that what they are doing it wrong.

Question 4

Autonomous state

Answer 4

‘To be independent or free’

Question 5

Agentic shift

Answer 5

Shift from autonomy to agency

Question 6

Binding factors

Answer 6

‘Aspects of the situation that allow the person to ignore or minimise the damaging effect of their behaviour’

Question 7

Legitimacy of authority

Answer 7

‘An explanation for obedience which suggests that we are more likely to obey people who we perceive to have authority over us’

Question 8

When do we learn legitimacy of authority?

Answer 8

From childhood (parents) and then teachers/other adults.

Question 9

Destructive authority

Answer 9

When people use their legitimate authority for destructive purposes (eg Hitler and Stalin).

Question 10

Wesley Kilham and Leon Mann (1974)

Answer 10

Found that only 16% of Australian women went up to 450V

Question 11

David Mantell (1971)

Answer 11

Found that 85% of German participants went up to 450V

Question 12

Meeus and Raaijmakers (1986)

Answer 12

Similar aim to Milgram. Focused on psychological harm rather than physical harm. Participants asked to help ‘interview’ a job applicant who was a confederate. Participant asked confederate general knowledge questions. Made the participant think that they were lying to the confederate. If confederate answered wrong, participant had to give 1 of 7 stress remarks.

Question 13

92%

Answer 13

These participants carried on with the experiment regardless of the confederate becoming visibly stressed.

Question 14

39

Answer 14

The number of participants used in Meeus & Raajjmakers’ experiment. The participants were a mix of ages and genders to make it generalised.

Question 15

Lacks ecological validity

Answer 15

The task was unfamiliar to the participants who performed it in an artificial environment.

Question 16

Disposition

Answer 16

‘Any explanation of behaviour that highlights the individual’s personality’

Question 17

Theodor Adorno

Answer 17

Authoritarian Personality. His ideas stemmed from anti-Semitic Germany- link between ‘collective ideologies’ and the personalities of individuals.

Question 18

Psychodynamic approach to Authoritarian Personality

Answer 18

Importance of childhood experiences, unconscious motives and desires, the person is seen as dynamic or constantly changing.

Question 19

Origins of Authoritarian Personality

Answer 19

Develops from childhood, harsh parenting, expectations of loyalty, severe criticism of failing and conditional love.

Question 20

Repressed feelings of fear, resentment and hostility in children

Answer 20

These feelings would be displaced onto others, especially those seen as socially inferior (minority groups, the poor or unemployed).

Question 21

Adorno et al (1950)

Answer 21

Devised the F-scale (fascism scale) to measure the authoritarian personality.

Question 22

2000

Answer 22

Adorno studied more than this number of middle-class white Americans

Question 23

Adorno’s Findings

Answer 23

Found that those who scored highly had characteristics of the authoritarian personality.

Question 24

Features of authoritarian personality

Answer 24

Highly conventional attitudes towards sex, race and gender. Uncomfortable towards uncertainty. Extreme respect for authority and submissiveness to it. Want strong leaders to enforce traditional values. Inflexible in their outlook.

Question 25

Elms and Milgram (1996)

Answer 25

Interviewed a small sample of people who took part in the original obedience experiment.

Question 26

Elms and Milgram’s findings

Answer 26

20 highly obedient participants in Milgram’s study scored more highly on the F-scale than 20 disobedient participants.

Question 27

Counterpoint to Elms and Milgram

Answer 27

The obedient participants displayed characteristics unusual for authoritarians. They didn’t glorify their fathers, experience high levels of punishment in childhood or have hostile attitudes towards their mothers.

Question 28

Christie and Jahoda (1954)

Answer 28

Argued that the F-scale was a politically biased interpretation of authoritarian personality.

Question 29

Culture bound

Answer 29

The F-scale is based on an extreme form of right-wing ideology.

Question 30

Limitation for Adorno’s theory

Answer 30

It is not a comprehensive explanation that can account for obedience across the political spectrum.