Factors affecting obedience Flashcards
perceived legitimate authority, socialisation, authoritarian parenting, autonomous and agentic levels of behaviour, situational factors, Milgram Study
Perceived legitimate authority
Most societies are hierarchical - parents, teachers and police officers.
The authority they use is legitimate as it is argued by society, helping it to run smoothly.
Perceived legitimate authority
Why will people obey?
People will tend to obey if they recognise their authority as morally right and/or legally based. This response to legitimate authority is learned in a variety of situations.
With regard to Milgrams’ study, the experimenter is seen as having legitimate authority as he has scientific status.
Socialisation
The socialisation process refers to the way in which people acquire the beliefs, value and attitudes of the cultural niche in which they find themselves. We learn these from parents, education, peers, religion and the media.
Socialisation
Belonging
Belonging is an important drive for human beings and learning the social and cultural norms of the community are part of our development.
Socialisation
Culture
- race, nationality, ethnicity
- music, art, literature, drama, dance
- food, clothing, housing, thechnology, transport
- economy, work
- leisure, family life, sex
- welfare, religion, science
- rites of passage, rituals, ceremones, traditions, customs, heritage
Kroeber and Kluckholm
Six ways that people describe culture
Descriptive - activities and behaviours
Historical - heritage and tradition
Normative - rules and norms
Psychological - learning, problem solving, behavoural approaches with a group of people
Structural - societal and organisational elements
Genetic - origins of a certain group of people
Link between culture and behaviour
Match between extent to which people’s behaviour is similar and reflects cultural norms is not exact.
Some cultures are more homogenous than others, behaviour matches the norms more precisely.
Cultural norms
- rules for living: prescriptions for ‘correct’ behaviour
- social standards of accepted, expected and appropriate behaviour
- passed from one generation to the next
- lack of norms = anomic
Create meaning and coherence in life; allow a group to achieve a sense of integrity, safety and belonging
Authoritarian parenting
Authoritarian parents value obedience, structure and respect. They believe in family hierarchy, with dad at the top, mum next and then the children last.
They use external control to teach right from wrong and are quick to act on a disipline problem
Authoritarian Parenting
Dispositional Explanation
Adorno felt that personality (i.e dispositional) factors rather than situational (i.e. environemntal) factors could explain obedience.
He proposed that there is an authoritarian personality, i.e. a person who favours an authoritarian social system, and admires obedience to authority figures.
Dispositional Explanation
Findings
Adorno found many significant correlations (e.g. authoritarian correlated with prejudice against minority groups) but we cannot say that one variable causes another.
Adorno cannot claim that a harsh parenting style caused a development of an authoritarian personality.
- lacks internal validity
- biassed sample
- lacks population validity and historical validity
Milgram study
Evaluation
- ecological validity - artificial situation
- individual differences -dispostional factors are important as not everyone obeys
- ethics - psychological distress caused to participants
Agentic and autonomous behaviour
Agentic state
When a person is in an agentic state, they cease to act according to their consciences.
Agentic and autonomous behaviour
Autonomous state
We are aware of the consequences of our actions and therefore voluntarily direct our behaviour
Situational Factors (obedience)
Proximity
People are more likely to obey an authority figure who is in a close proximity.
In Milgram’s study the experimenter was in the same room as the participant
