Explanations for obedience

Question 1

What is an agentic state?

Answer 1

When people do things on behalf of an external authority figure

Question 2

What does behaving autonomously mean?

Answer 2

Not following orders

Question 3

How does Milgram explain agentic state?

Answer 3

individuals are more likely to obey when they don’t feel responsible as we feel less responsible when carrying out the wishes of another person

Question 4

What does a person become when they are in an agentic state? What does this mean might happen?

Answer 4

de-individuated

They lose their sense of individuality and they may go against their own morals

Question 5

What did Milgram find about agentic state in his study?

Answer 5

The participants were under a moral strain but they continued because they were in an agentic state

Question 6

What did Milgram find about autonomous state?

Answer 6

Obedience rates dropped when they were given their orders over the phone as they were in an autonomous state and felt responsibility for their actions

Question 7

What is legitmacy of authority?

Answer 7

People obey others if they recognise their authority as morally right and legally based. They accept it as they are in charge

Question 8

When is legitimacy of authority learnt?

Answer 8

From an early age, eg. in school

Question 9

What did Milgram find about legitimacy of authority in his study?

Answer 9

The participants ignored the learners apparent distress and just obeyed the orders of the authoritative figure, recognising the legitimate authority of the researchers

Question 10

Which three situational variables affect obedience?

Answer 10

Proximity
Location
Uniform

Question 11

How does proximity affect obedience?

Answer 11

The closer the learner and teacher, the lower the obedience rates. This is because the participants find it harder to shift the responsibility.

Question 12

What did Milgram find about proximity affecting obedience?

Answer 12

When the learner and the teacher were in the same room, the obedience rates dropped from 62.5% to 40%

Question 13

How does location affect obedience?

Answer 13

There are higher obedience rates in locations which have perceived authority.

Question 14

What did Milgram find about location affecting obedience?

Answer 14

When he did his experiment in a run down office block, the obedience rates were lower than when the experiment was carried out in Yale university

Question 15

How does uniform affect obedience?

Answer 15

Uniforms give added legitimacy to authority figures, increasing obedience rates

Question 16

What did Bickman (1974) find about uniform affecting obedience?

Answer 16

When asked to pick up litter, loan a coin to a stranger or move away from a bus stop, 19% obeyed the researcher when they were dressed in civilian clothes compared to 38% when the researcher was dressed as a security guard

Question 17

What is the dispositional explanation for obedience?

Answer 17

Authoritarian personality

The perception of behaviour as caused by internal characteristics of individuals

Question 18

What is the authoritarian personality?

Answer 18

A person who holds rigid beliefs, is intolerant of ambiguity, submissive to authority and hostile to those of a lower status
Measured using the F-scale

Question 19

What did Zillmer et al (1995) do?

Answer 19

Looked at 16 Nazi war criminals who scored highly on certain portions of the F-scale questionnaire but not on all 9 sections

Question 20

What did Elms and Milgram find?

Answer 20

The participants in Milgram’s study who were highly obedient were significantly more authoritarian on the F-scale than disobedient participants, supporting the idea of a link between authoritarian personality type and obedience

Question 21

What is some evaluation of the dispositional explanation?

Answer 21

The F-scale has some research support but authoritarian individuals do not always score highly on all the dimensions as the theory would predict.
F-scale has response bias as it is worded in a confirming direction
Theory is politically biased as individuals with an authoritarian personality are seen as only existing on the conservative, right wing of political viewpoints

Question 22

What is obedience?

Answer 22

Following orders from another person, usually someone of authority.