Obedience Flashcards
Obedience
compliance with an order, request, or law. Or a submission to another’s authority
Explanations for obedeince
Legitimacy of authority and agentic state
Agentic State
See yourself as agent for carrying out other persons wishes
- feels no personal responsibility for their actions
Autonomous State
Behaves according to their principles and feels responsible for their actions
Agentic Shift
From an autonomous state to an agentic state when you see someone else as an authority figure who has power due to their position in the social hierarchy
Binding factors
aspects of a situation that allow the person to ignore or minimise the damaging effect of their behaviour and reduce the moral strain they feel
Binding factors in Milgram’s experiment
when a confederate gives the electric shock
Agentic State - AO3 Mandel
Police obeyed order to shoot civilians in small Polish town despite being told they could be assigned to other duties if preffered
- not in agentic state
Agentic State + AO3 Milgram
Milgram = ppts with confederate who gives shocks -> 92% obedience
Legitimacy of authority
Society is structured as a hierarchy and people have certain positions which hold authority over the rest of us
How have authorities been made legitimate?
It is agreed by society. Most accept that authority figures should exercise social power over others to allow society to function smoothly
Why do we obey authority figures?
People with legitimate authority have the power to punish others.
When do we learn to accept authority?
During childhood; parents, teachers
Some use legitimate authority for destructive purposes
Some leaders use legitimate authority destructively, ordering people to behave in cruel and dangerous ways
Legitimacy of Authority AO3 -
Imposed etic
- not all cultures have same hierarchical structure
Legitimacy of Authority + AO3
Milgram = moved to run down office -> 48% go to 450V so conformity decreased
Legitimacy of Authority AO3 + Hofling et al
Nurses telephones and told to give dangerous dose of drug by a doctor (someone of authority to them) - 95% did