Legitimacy of authority as an explanation of obedience. Flashcards
what’s a legitimate authority.
its a explanation of obedience which people obey an authority figure who they preceive as having authority of them. This authority is justified by the individuals position of power they have in social hierarchy. we are obligated to those who have power over us as we respect them and feel like they know what they are doing for example some people have power to punish us sic as courts and police.
how is a strength of legitimate authority is that its supported by milgram’s research.
because in his original study when the authority figure wore a white lab coat 65% of participants obeyed him and went up to 450 V. However, when the authority wore ordinary clothes the obedience decreases to 20%. This shows when an individual perceive someone as not an authority figure obedience levels decrease as they wifely like they have no right to tell them for what to do. this is a strength because tats legitimate authority is a valid explanation for explanation of obedience.
how is hoflings research is a limitation of legitimate authority.
because he asked the nurses give an excessive dose of drug to patient and 16 out of 18 disobeyed when though they doctor had a high social hierarchal status but they still all disobeyed. this is limitation because its shows some people are tend to obey more then others and it is possible that the tendency of obeying for disobeying have grater influence on behaviour then the legitimate authority. therefore the explanation lack validity.
how is a low ecological validity a limitation of legitimate authority.
became the experiment was done in a very artificial environment as people going shocks to stranger which is not a everyday task. this is a limitation because it can’t be generalise to real life situation of obedience such as going the rod your boss tell u to do at work. so therefore the explanation is a weak evidence and lack’s validity.
