Milgram's agency theory of obedience Flashcards
what is obedience?
complying with the rules and set by a recognisable authority, which may impose sanctions for obedience.
-where the individual gives up their free will and hands it over to an authority figure by doing what they say even if they do not believe what they are doing is correct.
what is destructive obedience?
tendency to obey in relation to something immoral.
what is the difference between obedience and destructive obedience.
obedience involves following direct orders of a person in a position of authority.
whereas destructive obedience involves following orders that lead to the harming of another person/people.
what was Milgram interesting in investigating?
what was the hypothesis about the idea?
what idea did he test and what did he find?
Milgram was interested in investigating the psychology underlying the holocaust.
hypothesis: German culture has something distinctive about it to make those involved behave in such a way.
-he initially set out to test the idea that German people were unusual in their response to orders from authority figures.
-he quickly found that people in general are surprisingly obedient to people in authority.
what were Milgram’s states and definitions?
autonomous: They direct their own behaviour and take responsibility for the results.
-independent, self controlled and has conscience.
agentic: they allow someone else to direct their behaviour and assume that responsibility passes to that person.
-does what the are told, controlled, authority takes responsibility.
why does obedience happen?
we are socialised into developing the capacity for the agentic state during childhood.
-this is reinforced in school in favour of maintaining order.
when does moral strain result?
when we have to do something we believe to be immoral in order to function as an agent of authority and so benefit society.
what did Milgram suggest we use to avoid something?
what was thought to be common in the participants of Milgram’s studies and why?
defence mechanisms to avoid the distress of having to perform acts we would normally find unacceptable.
denial was thought to be particularly common in participants in Milgram’s studies and in the holocaust as perpetrators refused to control what they are doing.
where can the study be applied to?
helps us understand some of the most horrific behaviour that has happened in the world (holocaust) in which the German soldiers who were in an agentic state obeyed their commanding officers because they saw them as their authority figure ad murdered thousands of Jewish people.
what is supporting evidence of this study?
agency theory explains and supports Milgram’s study in which people obey their destructive orders and harm someone else but suffer stress as a result.
-nervous laughing in Milgram’s study
supporting evidence: testing the study
Blass (1996)
showed students an edited film of Milgram’s study and questioned their responsibility.
the suggested that Milgram took on the role o the authority figure and supports agency theory because the participants were seen as being in an agentic state and therefore not to blame for their actions.
supporting evidence Bushman (1988)
found that when a request was made to give a motorist change for a parking meter , it was more likely to be followed if the person requesting it had the trappings of authority.
