Milgram Flashcards
Define obedience
When an individual obeys the order of an authority figure
State the term used when an individual disobeys an authority figure
Dissent
What are the two states Milgram said humans exist in?
Agency and autonomy
What is the autonomous state?
When an individual acts according to their free will
What is the agentic state?
When instructions by an authority figure are given, humans shift to an agentic state where they see themselves acting as an agent of an authority figure.
What is moral strain?
This occurs when people are asked to do something they wouldn’t choose to do themselves, therefore going against their morals.
How is moral strain relieved?
The shift into agentic state of mind relieves moral strain as the individual displaces the responsibility of the situation onto the authority figure.
State a strength for agency theory
Milgram’s first study on obedience showed that 65% of pps were willing to obey an authority figure and cause harm to a innocent confederate of the study. This gives evidence for agency theory because pps displayed overt signs of moral strain when they were given an order. When Milgram debriefed the participants, they said that their behaviour is the responsibility of the experimenter, and they didn’t want to do it. This gives evidence for the concept of displacement responsibility.
Another strength of agency theory
Hoffling et al 1966 staged a study in a hospital setting. A fake doctor called a nurse on a ward late at night asking her to administer double the daily dosage to a patient where 21/22 nurses obeyed the instructions. Many nurses justified their actions as being a result of hierarchy authority in the hospital. This supports agency theory because majority of nurses placed personal responsibility onto the doctor who was the authority figure.
Weakness of agency theory
A weakness of agency theory is that it does not take into account individual differences - why some people obey and some do not. Dissent can occur for many reasons like gender, situations and personality types. This means obedience is a more complex process than being explained by a agency theory.
Another weakness of agency theory
Another weakness is that concepts of autonomy and agency are hard to measure. It is an internal mental process that can’t be directly measured, only worked out from the behaviour of the agent. So there is no evidence for the evolutionary basis of obedience.
