Obedience

Question 1

Milgram’s Agency Theory

Answer 1

Two States of Being
1) Autonomous- ‘self-governing’ - more likely to disobey
2) Agentic- ‘agent for someone else’ - more likely to obey

Agentic Shift/ Moral Strain
- diffuse responsibility to authority figure

Question 2

Latané’s Social Impact Theory

Answer 2

Three Laws of Behaviour
1) Social Force- Strength, Immediacy, Numbers
2) Psychosocial Law- diminishing impact of more sources
3) Divisions of Impact- order is divided over more targets

Question 3

Factors Affecting Obedience
Personality- LOCUS OF CONTROL THEORY

Answer 3

Locus of Control Theory
—Internal- Autonomous- DISOBEY
—External- Agentic- OBEY
AO3- Milgram’s experiment

Question 4

Factors Affecting Obedience
Personality- AUTHORITARIAN PERSONALITY

Answer 4

Hierarchies
Superiors- always obey them
Subordinates- expect them to obey
AO3- Adorno devised Fascism Scale

Question 5

Factors Affecting Obedience
Personality- EMPATHY

Answer 5

People w. higher levels of empathy less likely to harm another at instructions of an authority figure
AO3- Milgram’s Variation 5 (heart condition)

Question 6

Factors Affecting Obedience
Personality- GENDER

Answer 6

Traditionally, see women as less aggressive and more obedient
AO3- Milgram’s Variation 8 (female teachers)

Question 7

Factors Affecting Obedience
Personality- CULTURE

Answer 7

Two Types of Behaviour across Cultures
1) Collectivistic- China, Israel, based on interdependence, cooperation/ compliance key for stability
2) Individualistic- USA, Britain, behave more independently, resist conformity/ compliance
AO3- Edwards et al 1969- South Africa- 87.5%
AO3- Bock 1972- USA- 40%

Question 8

Factors Affecting Obedience
Situational- SOCIAL FORCE

Answer 8

Status/ authority a person has: start, immediacy, number
AO3- Milgram’s original and Variation 13 (ordinary man)
AO3- Milgram’s original and Variation 7 (telephonic instructions)

Question 9

Factors Affecting Obedience
Situational- MOMENTUM OF COMPLIANCE

Answer 9

Start w. small, trivial requests
As requests increased, participants feel duty bound to continue
Creates binding rel. that escalates steadily
AO3- Milgram’s original