Explanations for obedience

Question 1

what are the 4 explanations for obedience?

Answer 1

dispositional variables
situational varaibles
legitimacy of authority
agentic state

Question 2

dispositional variables

Answer 2

Zilmer et al gave ‘F’ scale questionnaires to 16 Nazi war criminals they all scored extremely high
adorno spoke about authoritarian personalities
elms and milgram found those who obeyed in milgrams experiment had higher f scale scores

Question 3

what is the evaluation of dispositional variables?

Answer 3

authoritarian types don’t always score highly

f scale questionnaires have response bias - suggests more people have an authoritarian personality than not

Question 4

what are the situational variables?

Answer 4

proximity
location
uniform

Question 5

location

Answer 5

in places with greater perceived authority = greater obedience
milgram repeated his experiment in a run down office block obedience fell to 47%

Question 6

uniform

Answer 6

adds perceived authority
milgram - experiment wore grey lab coat
bickman study NYC - stooge dressed as security guard - obeyed 38% of time compared with own clothes which was 19%

Question 7

proximity

Answer 7

how aware individuals are of the consequences of their actions
closer a person is with consequences of actions less likely they are to obey
milgram decreased distance between teacher and learner - obedience fell to 40%
2… teacher had to place learners hand down for them to be shocked - obedience dropped to 30%

Question 8

legitimacy of authority

Answer 8

were socialised into accepting social roles
when a person does something as told to by someone higher up in the social hierarchy it is seen as doing their duty
milgram said rps ignored learners distress and focused on experimentor
they seen relationship with experimenter as one they needed to maintain

Question 9

agentic state

Answer 9

agency theory = we are socialised from a young age to obey orders
when we obey we give up free will
act on free will = autominous state
act due to orders = agentic state

Question 10

what is the evidence for agentic state?

Answer 10

milgram 62.5% shocked to 450v
100% shocked to 300v
when milgram introduced remorte authority (orders over phone) obedience declined to 20.5% as individual remained in autominous state