Chapter 1.4 - Situational explanations for obedience Flashcards
What are the two explanations for obedience?
Agentic state and legitimacy of authority
What is meant by the term agentic state?
A mental state where we feel no personal responsibility for our behaviour because we believe ourselves to be acting for an authority figure. This frees us from the demands of our consciences and allows us to obey even a destructive authority figure
What is the autonomous state?
Being aware of the consequences of one’s own actions and therefore taking voluntary control of one’s own behaviour
What is the agentic shift?
Changing from being in a autonomous state to being in an agentic state
What are binding factors and give an example for Milgram?
Aspects of the situation that allow the person to ignore or minimise the damaging effect of their behaviour, therefore reducing the moral strain they are feeling. For example Milgram shifted the responsibility to the victim or denied the damage the teachers were doing to the learner
What is meant by legitimacy of authority?
An explanation for obedience which suggests that we are more likely to obey people who we perceive to have authority over us. This authority is justified by the individual’s position of power within a social hierarchy
What is a disadvantage of destructive authority?
Leaders can use their legitimate powers for destructive purposes, ordering people to behave in ways that are cruel and dangerous
Give a brief description about the massacre at My Lai
- 504 unarmed civilians were killed at My Lai
- Women were gang-raped
- Soldiers blew up houses and shot people as they emerged from them with hands in the air
- All of the animals were killed
What is an advantage of agentic state? (research support)
One of the FAQs in the experiment was ‘who is responsible if the learner is harmed’ and once the experimenter replied with ‘i am’, participants went through the procedure quickly with no further objections
- This shows that once the participants were rid of their moral strain, they acted more easily as the Experimenter’s agent
What is a limitation of agentic state? (limited explanation)
1977 study found that 16/18 hospital nurses disobeyed orders from a doctor to administer an excessive drug dose to a patient
- This suggests that the agentic shift can only account for some situations of obedience
What is another evaluation point for agentic state? (poland)
German policemen shot many civilians in a small town in Poland, despite not having direct orders to do so, they behaved autonomously, challenging the agentic state explanation
What is an advantage of legitimacy of authority? (cultural differences)
- Only 16% of Australian women went up to 450V
- 85% of German participants went up to 450V
- Shows that authority is more likely to be accepted as legitimate and entitled to demand obedience from individuals
What is a limitation of legitimacy of authority? (doesn’t fully explain all)
It cannot explain instances of disobedience in a hierarchy where the legitimacy of authority is clear and accepted
- Some nurses and teachers disobeyed
- Suggests that some people may be more/less obedient than others - innate tendencies have a greater influence than LoA
What is another evaluation point for legitimacy of authority? (real-world crimes)
A real-world crime of obedience can be understood in terms of the power hierarchy of the US Army. COs operate with a clearer hierarchy and have a greater power to punsih
