Explanations for obedience Flashcards
What are the two explanations for obedience?
- The legitimacy of authority
- The agentic state
What is the ‘legitimacy of authority’ explanation?
This suggests that we are more likely to obey people when an individual has justified (legitimate) authority due to their position of power within a social hierarchy. Alternatively, we obey because the individual may have the power to punish us.
What are the three evaluation points for the legitimacy of authority?
+ Milgram’s variations (location)
+ Bickman (1974 uniform)
- Many participants still obey when the figure lacks legitimate authority.
A strength of the ‘legitimate authority’ explanation comes from the variations of Milgram’s obedience research.
E: He found that participants were more likely to obey a researcher (authority figure) when the research took place in the prestigious setting of Yale university (65%) compared to the everyday setting of a run down office (48%).
L: This is positive for the explanation as it suggests we do obey more when we perceive the figure of authority as having more legitimate authority and social power.
Bickman (1974)
E: He found that when when he asked passersby in NY to lend money to a stranger for a parking meter, they would obey 49% of the time when he was dressed in street clothes but this increased 92% when he was dressed in a security guards uniform.
L: supports the idea that we will follow unusual orders provided the person giving them is seen to have enough true authority and social power (i.e from wearing a uniform)
A problem with this explanation is that many people still obey in research when the authority figure lacks legitimate authority.
E: participants still obeyed someone in everyday clothing in bickman’s research and in the everyday setting of a run down office in MIlgram’s research.
L: This is a problem as it suggests there must be other reasons for obedience and legitimacy of authority cannot explain all obedience.
What is the agentic state?
This is a mental state where you are more likely to obey an order because you see yourself as having no personal responsibility for your actions, as you are acting on behalf an authority figure.
What is the agentic state often referred to as?
The agentic shift.
What is the autonomous state?
Seeing ourselves as responsible for our own actions.
What does the agentic status free us off?
The demands of our conscience and allows us to obey even a destructive authority.
What did people who continued to deliver shocks say when interviewed?
That they wouldn’t have done it by themselves and they were just doing what they were told.
Support for the agentic state explanation comes from Milgram (1963)
E: He found that, when he asked a range of people before his obedience study to predict how far participants would go before refusing to obey, they predicted only 1 in 1000 would continue to the maximum level of 450v (which may represent the autonomous state) but, in this study, when faced with an authority figure saying he would take responsibility, 65% of participants continued to 450v (represent the agentic state)
L: supports the idea that the participants obeyed due to shifting to the agentic state.
What are the three evaluation points for the agentic state?
+ Milgram’s obedience research (1963).
- Fails to explain individual differences.
- Real life cases cannot be explained.
A problem with this explanation is that it fails to explain individual differences
E: although 65% obeyed many didn’t
E: some personality types are more susceptible to the agentic state than others
L: explanation may be limited and cannot account for why only some people shift to the agentic state whilst others do not.
Some real life cases cannot be explained by the agentic state.
E: Mandel (1998) described one incident where the Nazi German Reserve Police Batallion 101 shot civilians in a small town in Poland despite the fact they were told they did not have to do this and could be assigned to other duties if they preferred.
E: As they obeyed despite not being able to fully shift responsibility to the authority figure.
L: It shows not all obedience can be explained as being the result of the agentic state.
