Explanations for obedience

Question 1

Agentic state

Answer 1

• acting on behalf of someone else ( authority)
• increases obedience as responsibility can be placed on the experimenter
• Adolf Eichman is an example as in the war he said he was only following orders

Question 2

Legitimacy of authority

Answer 2

• situational factor
• the amount of social power someone has
• differs around the world ~ australia had 16%, germany had 85%
• Bickman’s experiment ~ security guard vs normal clothes

Question 3

The authoritarian personality

Answer 3

• dispositional factor
• hostile towards those with a lower social status
• highly conformist and dogmatic
• possibly due to strict parenting