Explanations of obedience Flashcards
What are the 3 explanations for obedience?
- The agentic state
- Legitimacy of authority
- Authoritarian personality
What is the agentic state?
- When an individual gives up their free will and no longer sees themselves acting independently, but as an ‘agent’ implementing someone else’s decisions
- We surrender our conscious and become an instrument for authority.
What do you experience when in the agentic state and what is it?
Moral strain-
Feeling uncomfortable as a consequence of going against your conscience, it’s coped with by repression and denial
What state are you led into when in the agentic state and what is it?
The autonomous state-
Where we’re aware of consequences and responsibilities and act and think as an independent individual guided by our conscience
What is legitimacy of authority?
- Based on societal structures
- The hierarchal nature of many societies seem to sanction and legitimise key authority figures
- We obey people with legitimate authority because we trust them
If the point is:
A strength of the agentic state explanation for why people conform is that there’s research to support the explanation.
What is the evidence, explanation and link?
Evidence- Milgram found that many of his participants said they wanted to stop but seemed powerless to do so
Explanation- Milgram noticed that individuals used multiple strategies to alleviate the moral strain they were feeling as a consequence of their actions, such as shifting responsibility to the victim.
Link- This implies that there’s research to support that people obey as they’re in the agentic state rather than the autonomous state.
If the point is:
A strength of the legitimacy of authority explanation for why people obey is that there’s research to support the explanation.
What is the evidence, explanation and link?
Evidence- Bickman found that people were twice as likely to obey someone dressed as a security guard when asked to pick up litter, compared to someone dressed in a jacket and tie.
Explanation- This supports the view that a situational variable, such as uniform, does have a powerful effect on obedience.
Link This suggests that there’s research to support that if an authority figure is perceived to be legitimate then people are more likely to obey.
If the point is:
A weakness of the agentic state and legitimacy of authority explanations is that it leads to the ‘obedience alibi’
What is the evidence, explanation and link?
Evidence- There’s some arguments that by explaining the reasons for Nazi behaviour we’re giving them an excuse for the atrocities that occurred in the holocaust and stops war criminals facing up to what they’ve done.
Explanation- This implies that all behaviour can be reduced down to the lessening of a feeling of guilt for one’s own actions.
Link- This suggests that the agentic state diffuses responsibility and provides an alternative explanation for why people obey.
If the point is:
One strength of the legitimacy of authority explanation is that it has practical applications.
What is the evidence, explanation and link?
Evidence- Just being aware that we’re capable of obeying this way could help us explain and prevent horrific actions.
Explain- It can help us to understand and prevent actions of real world crime of obedience because we can better grasp the meaning of the power hierarchy within institutions where legitimate authority implies a greater power to punish.
Link- This implies that the explanation has been useful to society because it can be used as a preventative measure against legitimate assumptions of hierarchal power within real life situations.
What is the authoritarian personality?
- Authoritarians feel that different ideologies from out group members can harm society- perceptions of threat lead to aggression and hostility towards out group members
- If a person is raised by dogmatic and distant parents who are punished for minor reasons and have rigid ideologies about society, they will learn to obey people who have more power
- The F-scale, created by Adorno, can be used to measure fascism and identify who is an authoritarian with 30 questions measuring 9 dimensions of personality
If the point is:
A strength of the authoritarian personality explanation for why people obey is that there’s research to support the explanation.
What is the evidence, explanation and link?
Evidence- Elms and Milgram found that when they interviewed a small sample of 20 people who were obedient in an original study, they scored significantly higher on the F-scale in comparison to a group of 20 disobedient participants.
Explanation- This portrayed that the 2 groups were clearly different in terms of authoritarianism.
Link- This implies that there is research evidence to show that there’s a correlation between obedience and an authoritarian personality.
If the point is:
A weakness of the authoritarian personality as an explanation for obedience is that it’s limited to some extent, as there are alternative explanations for obedience behaviour.
What is the evidence, explanation and link?
Evidence- For example, the agentic state explanation could be considered a better explanation for why people obey, because it takes into account situational variables.
Explanation- In Milgram’s variations, situational variables such as proximity, location and uniform all played an important role in whether or not an individual is more prone to being in an agentic state.
Link- This suggests that this might be a better explanation, as it can explain why people change their behaviour based on the situation they’re in.
If the point is:
A weakness for the authoritarian personality explanation is that there may be a problem with cause and effect.
What is the evidence, explanation and link?
Evidence- Middendrop and Meloen found that less educated people are consistently more authoritarian and more obedient.
Explanation- If these claims are correct then it’s possible to conclude that it’s not authoritarian personality characteristics that lead to obedience, but levels of education.
Link- This suggests that instead of authoritarianism causing obedience, a lack of education could be responsible for both authoritarianism and obedience.
If the point is:
A strength of the authoritarian personality is that there are practical applications.
What is the evidence, explanation and link?
Evidence- For example, this explanation can be used to explain why only certain personality types are more prone to obeying orders.
Explanation- In a real life situation, it explains why some individuals revert back to their upbringing ideals to explain why they obey.
Link-This suggests that the explanation has been useful to society because it attempts to explain the behaviour of Nazi soldiers and the ideals of those who lived after that time.
What are the evaluation points for the agentic state and legitimacy of authority explanation for why people obey?
+ There is research to support the agentic state explanation of why people obey
+ There is research to support the legitimacy of authority explanation of why people obey
— Both explanations lead to the ‘obedience alibi’
+ The legitimacy of authority explanation has practical applications
