Explanations of Obedience Flashcards
what is legitimcy of authority?
when we feel obliggated to people in authority as we respect their credientials and assume they are correct and so we are more likely to obey them
what happens if we feel someone does not have legitimate power?
we are less likely to obey
when was lack of legitimacy of authority seen in Milgram’s studies?
when the study was moved from the prestigious Yale to a rundown office buiidng, obedience rates dropped
what is obedience?
the result of social influence where someone acts in response to a direct order from an authority figure
evaluation of legitimacy of authority (3)
- sme researcers found LOA to be main reason for obedience in Milgram’s study, supporting explanation
- can explain cultural differences in degree of obedience
- in an Aussie replication of M’s study, only 16% went to 450v, compared to 85% in a German study
- shows cultural differences in what is considered egitimate authority and therefore what demands obedience
- can explain irl war crimes - e.g. soldiers in ‘My Lai Massacre’ explained as just following orders
what is the agentic state?
when people give up their autonomy and moral responsibility to an authority so mindlessly obey the authority
what is the agentic shift?
when people move from an autonomous state to an agentic state
binding factors
- parts of the situation that ignore or minimise the effcet of our behavious therefore reducing moral strain, putting responsibility on the victim or deny damage being caused
- keep us in the agentic state
which variation of Milgram’s study did Milgram suggest agentic state was the cause of the obedience rates?
- when a C flicked the switch
- responsibility of P decreased
- obedience rose to 92.5%
evaluation of agentic state (1 +ve, 1 -ve)
- Milgram’s studies support role of agentic state in obedience
- most Ps resisted at some point asking who was responsible
- when heard reasearcher responsible, they continued
- agentic state can’t explain why some people disobey orders
- Rank and Jacobson - 16/18 nurses disobeyed doctor’s orders to givve excessive dose to patient
3 situational variables affecting obedience
proximity
location
uniform
how does proximity affect obedience?
decreased proximity allows people to psychlogically distance themsleves from the consequences of their action
how does location affect obedience?
legitimacy of location allows authority to share in legitimacy, increasing obedience
how does uniorm affect obedience?
- links to legitimacy of authority
- uniforms encourage obedience because widely accepted as a symbol of authority
- ccept someone in uniform entitled to expect obedience as uniform is legitimate as granted by society
ho suggested the authoritarian personality as an explanation of obedience?
Adorno
4 features of an AP as argued by Adorno
- greatly respect and submit to autority
- believe we need strong, powerful leaders to enforce traditional values of love of country, family and religion
- hstile to those considered of inferior social status and have very conventional attitutudes towards sex, race and gender
- have an inflexible, black and white oulook and believe ‘oher’ people responsible for bad in society so they are a convenient target
what die Adorno believe caused an AP?
harsh parentig in childhood, suc as strict discipline, expectation of loyalty, impossible standards and conditional love based on how the child behaves
what does experience of harsh parenting result in according to Adorno (behaviour wise)
create resentment and hostililty in child which is displaced onto those oerceived as lesser as they cannot eexpress this directly to parents for fear of punishment
aim of Adorno et al.
investigate the cause of obedience
sample of Adorno et al.
2000 middle class, white Americans
procedure of Adorno et al.
- assessed attitudes towards ethnic groups using F-scale questionnaire
- higher score = more AP charicteristics such as dislkiking the weak, excessive respect and obedience to those wih higher status and likely prejudiced
results of Adorno et al.
- those with an AP had a certain cognitive style of very black and white thinking and stereotypes about other groups
- suggests having an AP means more likely to obey authority, suppporting Adorno’s theory
strength of AP
- evidence supporting AP being cause of obedience
- Milgram found that those most obedient had an AP (scored high)
Weakness of AP in terms of synchronised obedience
- AP cannot explain why many people are prejudiced or obedient t the same time - e.g. German soldieers, WW2
- if personality is the cause, suggests all have same personality and therefore same harsh upbringing which is highly unlikely
weakness of AP in terms of Milgram’s finding
- M’s finding is correlational so can’t conclude that having an AP causes high obedience
- could be a 3rd independent factor influencing it
- OB and AP both associated with lower level of education
weakness of F-scale
can get AP result by just selecting all ‘agree answers’
anyone with this response bias assessed as having AP
weakness of AP in terms of correlations
- All A’s researh based on correlations b/w F-scale scores and obedience
- can’t conclude having an AP causes OB r that a harsh upbringing causes AP
