**L7 - Situational Explanations of Obedience Flashcards
what did Milgram suggest?
MILGRAM suggested that people can OBEY HORRIFIC ORDERS not because of their own personalities, BUT BECAUSE OF THE SITUATION THEY ARE IN (hence this is a SITUATIONAL EXPLANATION)
what did milgram say the agentic state was?
he suggested that people following orders go from an AUTONOMOUS STATE to an AGENTIC STATE via an AGENTIC SHIFT
once in AGENTIC STATE, people CARRY OUT ORDERS WITHOUT CONSIDERING THE CONSEQUENCES OF THEIR ACTIONS, LOSING ACCOUNTABILITY because they believe they are JUST THE AGENT OF THE AUTHORITY FIGURE
who do the people in the agentic state believe is responsbile for their actions?
the people in this AGENTIC STATE believe that the AUTHORITY FIGURE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR ACTIONS (DIFFUSION OF RESPONSBILITY) and so they DON’T FOLLOW THEIR OWN CONSCIENCE OR FEEL GUILT FOR THEIR ACTIONS
why do people enter the agentic state?
this state occurs because in peoples experience, THOSE IN AUTHORITY ARE USUALLY TRUSTWORTHY, orders SEEM REASONABLE at first before BECOMING MORE AGGRESSIVE (GRADUAL COMMITMENT) and people are PSYCHOLOGICALLY PROTECTED from the CONSEQUENCES OF THEIR ACTIONS (BUFFERS)
what is the positive self image explanation for enetering the agentic state?
one explanation for why people enter agentic state is to MAINTAIN A POSITIVE SELF IMAGE, it DOESN’T MATTER WHAT NEGATIVE BEHAVIOUR THEY SHOW, because they AREN’T RESPONSIBLE for their actions. Once a person enters agentic state they stay in it because they are CONCERNED ABOUT BREAKING THEIR COMMITMENT TO THE AUTHORITY FIGURE which might seem ARROGANT or RUDE.
what did milgram think about the development of the agentic state?
MILGRAM thought that the agentic state had DEVELOPED DURING HUMAN EVOLUTION and is NECESSARY FOR HIERARCHIES TO FUNCTION IN SOCIETY, which PREVENTS CHAOS.
We live in a society where we are CONSTANTLY SUBMITTING TO AUTHORITY FIGURES, such as parents, teachers, police and doctors and so OBEDIENCE IS ESSENTIAL.
+ PROXIMITY
pps in milgram’s experiment were LESS LIKELY TO SHOCK MR WALLACE WHEN THEY WERE IN THE SAME ROOM AS HIM and could SEE THE CONSEQUENCES OF THEIR ACTIONS (i.e there were NO BUFFERS).
This supports the idea of an agentic state, being in CLOSE PROXIMITY to Mr W and SEEING HIM IN PAIN would have PREVENTED SOME PPS FROM GOING INTO AN AGENTIC STATE
- MANDEL and the case of MAJOR WILHELM
WITHOUT BUFFERS people SHOULD NOT GO INTO AN AGENTIC STATE and obey an order to harm someone, however MANDEL reported the case of MAJOR WILHELM TRAPP in 1942, Major Trapp was GIVEN ORDERS to take a LARGE GROUP OF JEWISH PEOPLE TO THE EDGE OF A VILLAGE and HAVE THEM SHOT, although the members of his battalion were GIVEN THE CHANCE TO SAY NO and be assigned to other duties, few did, and the MASSACRE WENT AHEAD - DESPITE THE VICTIMS BEING IN CLOSE PROXIMITY TO THE SOLDIERS
what is legitimate authority?
LEGITIMATE AUTHORITY is another SITUATIONAL EXPLANATION OF OBEDIENCE; it claims that we RECOGNISE OUR OWN and OTHER PEOPLE’S POSITION in the social hierarchy and that we will OBEY THOSE WHO HAVE A HIGHER POSITION in the social hierarchy than us - we will NOT OBEY THOSE WHO HAVE AN EQUAL OR LOWER POSITION in the social hierarchy than we do
what factors increase legitimate authority?
legitimate authority is INCREASED by VISIBLE SIGNS OF AUTHORITY (e.g uniform), legitimate authority is DEPENDENT ON SETTING, ORDER, SYSTEM and LOCATION (such as the military or prison), especially if the COMMANDS ARE HARMFUL or DESTRUCTIVE
+ HOFLING (LA)
HOFLING found that NURSES WOULD OBEY A DANGEROUS ORDER FROM A DOCTOR because they were in a HOSPITAL LOCATION, nurses received a PHONE CALL FROM AN UNKNOWN DOCTOR (confederate) called DR SMITH who asked them to ADMINISTER 20MG OF A DRUG CALLED ASTROTEN (just a sugar pill) to a patient.
This BROKE HOSPITAL RULES as it was TWICE THE MAXIMUM DOSE indicated on the bottle, the instructions were GIVEN OVER THE PHONE, the doctor was UNKOWN, and the medicine was NOT ON THE STOCK LIST. 95% OF NURSES carried out these instructions DESPITE THE POTENTIAL DANGER, because DOCTORS HAVE LEGITIMATE AUTHORITY
+ BICKMAN
BICKMAN asked CONFEDERATES TO ORDER PEDESTRIANS to PICK SOME LITTER OFF THE STREET
OR MOVE AWAY FROM A BUS STOP. The confederates were dressed as GUARD, MILKMAN or just in CASUAL CLOTHES - 90% OF PEOPLE OBEYED THE GUARD but only 50% OBEYED THE CIVILIAN. A person in a guard uniform is MORE LIKELY TO BE PERCEIVED AS A LEGITIMATE AUTHORITY FIGURE
- SOME PEOPLE CAN RESIST ORDER OF AUTHORITY
legitimate authority DOESN’T EXPLAIN WHY SOME PEOPLE ARE ABLE TO RESIST THE ORDER OF AUTHORITY FIGURES. 35% OF PEOPLE in MILGRAM’S study REFUSED TO OBEY the experimenter, even though HE HAD LEGITIMATE AUTHORITY IN THAT SITUATION
