Explanations of Obedience

Question 1

Situational Explanations

Answer 1

Agentic State and Legitimacy of Authority

Question 2

How to go into agentic state

Answer 2

Opposite of agentic state is autonomous state - when people are free to behave according to own principles and feel a sense of responsibility. Shift (agentic shift) from this to agentic state when a person perceives someone else as an authority figure who has greater power and in a higher position in social hierarchy.

Question 3

What is the agentic state

Answer 3

Mental state when we feel no personal responsibility for actions because we see ourselves acting as an agent for an authority figure. Frees us from demands of unconsciousness allowing us to obey even a destructive authority figure. Feel moral strain as know it is unjust but use binding factors to ignore or minimise the damaging effect reducing moral strain.

Question 4

Example of this

Answer 4

Eichmann was a Nazi and was a big role in the death of thousands of Jews. He refuses to take any responsibility as all he did we was order them which he was ordered to do so so believe he didn’t do it personally. Believed he was in agentic state using binding factors.

Question 5

(A) Weakness (A)

Answer 5

Provides ‘obedience alibi’.
Mandel argues situational explanations offer an excuse for evil behaviour which is offensive to victims of this blind obedience.
Explanation allows people to excuse horrid behaviour and could even gain sympathy.
Furthermore… determinism suggests behaviour determined by a situation so out of persons control, which could be used as an argument to be punished less severely.

Question 6

(A) Weakness (F)

Answer 6

Cannot explain all findings.
35% refused to go to full volts.
Theory only explains some situations as all should have shifted when asked to increase voltage. Could be due to individual differences and so incomplete.
However… methodological issues as may have suspected fake and not all shifted.

Question 7

(A) Strength

Answer 7

Some research support.
Hofling et al found 21/22 obeyed an order from a doctor to give a double dose of an unfamiliar drug.
Nurses acted as agent for doctor giving it validity and generalisability.
However… doesn’t explain why one nurse didn’t obey.

Question 8

Legitimacy of Authority

Answer 8

Structured in hierarchical way, so some have authority over us. Authority is legitimate and accepted by most of society. Accept they are able to exercise power over others allowing society to function smoothly. Destructive authority can cause problems to arise.

Question 9

(L) Strength (O)

Answer 9

Explains real-life obedience.
My Lai massacre involved soldiers destroying whole villages.
Due to hierarchy in army so will obey orders. Hierarchy recognised by Government and Law. Means generalisable to society.
Furthermore… explains why destructive committed and how easily society can become corrupt.

Question 10

(L) Strength (R)

Answer 10

Research support.
Tarrow (2000) studied aircraft data and found excessive dependency on captains authority causing errors that contributed to crashes.
Captain has more authority, reliant on them.
Furthermore… one officer said captain had risky approach but said nothing as captain knew what he was doing so trusted them.

Question 11

(L) Weakness

Answer 11

Cannot explain disobedience when authority is clear and accepted.
Rank and Jacobson found 16/18 nurses disobeyed order to give excessive dose to patients.
Did this even though established hierarchy so suggests innate tendencies to obey or disobey has greater influence than legitimacy.
However… Hofling et al did a very similar study found 21/22 nurses obeyed.

Question 12

Dispositional Explanations

Answer 12

Authoritarian Personality

Question 13

What is authoritarian personality

Answer 13

They show extreme respect for authority. They believe society is weaker than it once was and that it needs a strong leader to enforce traditional values of ‘love for country and family’. They show contempt for those inferior social status as they have an inflexible outlook on life. They are uncomfortable with uncertainty and believe ‘others’ are responsible for ills of society so often racist, sexist, and homophobic.

Question 14

How is it established

Answer 14

It is formed in childhood due to harsh parenting, extreme discipline, expectations of absolute loyalty, impossible standards, severe criticisms of failings, and conditional love. These experiences create resentment and hostility in childhood but they can’t express this due to fear of punishment so displace it onto others who are socially inferior, using them as a scapegoat. This is the psychodynamic explanation.

Question 15

Key Study

Answer 15

Adorno et al (1950). Aim = investigate unconscious attitudes to other racial groups. Used 2000 middle class white Americans who he gave several studies including the F-Scale. The F-Scale was used to measure authoritarian personality, they used statements like obedience is the most important virtue for a child to learn and they had to put to what extent they agreed. He also interviewed participants about their childhood experiences. He found that people who showed traits of authoritarian personality e.g. extreme respect for authority, had a similar experience of conditional love, irrational expectations in childhood. He argued it started in childhood.

Question 16

Further Study

Answer 16

Elms and Milgram (1966). Aim = investigate if those who obeyed in Milgram’s study showed more of an authoritarian personality. Gave 20 participants who went to full volts and 20 who refused several questionnaires, including the F-Scale and asked open ended question about relationship with parent, experimenter, and learner. Found the obedient ones scored higher on the F-Scale and were less close to father in childhood and admired the experimenter. Concluded that obedient participants in original research had higher levels of authoritarian personality.

Question 17

(D) Strength

Answer 17

Research support.
Milgram and Elm (1966) found those who obeyed scored high on F-Scale.
Support Adorno’s view, increasing validity.
However… with questionnaires an issue of social desirability bias so chose answers believed to be social norm so may not be true.

Question 18

(D) Weakness (N)

Answer 18

Cannot explain behaviour of the majority.
In Nazi Germany millions obeyed to racist behaviours but unlikely they all had same personality.
Limited to smaller situations.
However… still useful in smaller as takes into account why some may not obey, as they don’t have that personality.
Furthermore… may still be useful in large situations as in Nazi Germany these racist and strict ideas were being socialised into the children and as it starts in childhood it could be they all experienced this very harsh upbringing in Nazi and so could be possible that quite a lot of them had it.

Question 19

(D) Weakness (M)

Answer 19

Methodological problems.
When researchers interpreting responses about childhood they already knew F-Scale score.
Researcher bias affected the way they interpreted it so it fitted their ideas. Decreases internal validity.
Furthermore… correlational study so relationship not cause and effect so need to be more open to idea of other factors.