Explanations of obedience Flashcards
The agentic state
Acting as an agent for someone in authority we find it easy to deny personal responsibility of our actions
The autonomic state
Directing their own behaviour, takes responsibility
Agentic shift
Moving from the autonomic state to the agentic state due to moral strain
Agentic state research support
Blass and Schmitt- MIlgrams pps blamed the experimenter and believed they were agents. believed that he had the responsibility. The pps were able to shock easily having asked who was responsible.
Personality or situation
Some people disobeyed in the milgram experiement, Doesn’t explain why some people can remain autonomous.
Agentic state is vague
No brain scans or scientific evidence- based on inference, relies on self report so may be used to justify behaviour.
Legitimacy theory
We are more likely to obey people we believe have authority over us
Kelman and Hamiltons factors explaining obedience
Legitimacy of the system
Legitimacy of authority within the system
Legitimacy of demands or order given.
Legitimacy of the system
The extent to which the body is legitimate e.g school
Legitimacy of authority within the system
Status within an establishment
Legitimacy of the orders given
The extent to which the order is appropriate
Legitimacy theory research support
Milgram warehouse and clothing replication
Legitimacy theory can explain cultural and individual difference in obedience
Authority figures are always perceived in any culture so findings can be generalised to other cultures. May explain cultural differences like Kelham and Mann in AUS.
Cannot explain all obedience
There may be innate tendancies why we obey or disobey. Some of Milgrams pps were disobedient and so were Rank and Jacobson’s pps which the explanation doesn’t fully explain. (2/18)
