Obedience Flashcards
What is the agentic state ?
When someone acts on behalf of an authority figure of higher status and feels no guilt for their actions
What’s the first condition needed to shift to the agentic state ?
Legitimate Authority
How can the agentic state be linked to a variation in Milgram ?
Confederates switched roles and pressed the switches, 92.5% ppts shocked to 450 - when there’s less personal responsibility obedience increases
What did participants do in Milligrams study that links to agentic state ?
They refused to shock when they were reminded they had full responsibility and shocked if the experimenter took the responsibility.
What is the problem with the agentic state and milgram’s study
It can’t explain Nazi behaviour. Mendel described German officers killing civilians in Poland without orders. They weren’t powerless to obey
What is a better explanation for Milgram’s study and the agentic state
Better explained by plain cruelty. Zimbardo’s guards used the study to express their sadistic tendencies as they increased cruelty without orders from authority. Obedience caused by human nature
How does legitimate authority link to Milgram ?
The experimenter has LA as he has scientific status
What were the situational factors affecting obedience in Milgram ?
Proximity
Location
Uniform authority
How did the power of uniform affect Milgram’s study ?
The experimenter wore a lab coat which gave him high status. But when he didn’t, obedience was low.
How does location affect Milgram’s study
Doing it at Yale (uni of high status) gave the study credibility in eyes of ppts making them more likely to obey. When doing it at run down offices obedience dropped to 47.5% from 65%
How does proximity affect obedience in Milgram’s study
People more likely to obey experimenter in the same room as the ppts (Teacher) - When experimenter instructed on phone from another room, obedience fell to 20.5%
What was Adorno,s explanation for obedience ?
He felt personality rather than environmental factors could explain obedience
What was Adorno’s procedure ?
He studied 2000 white middle class Americans and their unconscious bias to racial groups using the F scale
What were Adorno’s findings
Children w stricter upbringing had a higher level of obedience
What’s one problem with Adorno’s findings
He used a bias sample — lacks population and historical validity - can’t be generalised to people outside sample.
