Obedience Flashcards
What is meant by authority?
When a person has right, or power to give orders, we say they have authority.
What is meant by obedience?
When a person follows direct orders from a person whom they believe has authority over them, we call this obedience.
State all the situational variables that affect obedience.
Proximity of authority figure, proximity of victim, location, and uniform.
Explain how proximity of authority figure would influence someone obeying.
Proximity is a fancy word for closeness.
When the figure of authority is closer, it is harder to obey, due to pressure.
Explain how proximity of victim would influence someone obeying.
When you are close to the victim, you are able to see the consequences of you’re destructive actions with you’re own eyes, therefore you are less likely to obey, because you might feel more emotional. And vice versa.
Explain how location would influence someone obeying.
There are some locations where we are more likely to obey, because that specific location indicates that someone has legitimacy of authority.
Explain how uniform would influence someone obeying.
A uniform indicates that someone has legitimacy of authority, therefore we are more likely to obey them, because we feel pressured to do so.
What is a social hierarchy?
A hierarchy is a social group, in which the power structure is unequal.
explain what is means when someone has social hierarchy.
When someone has more authority over someone else in a social group, we say they have social hierarchy.
State all the 3 explanations for obedience.
Legitimacy of authority, agency theory, authoritarian personality.
explain the legitimacy of authority theory for explaining obedience.
The reason we obey so easily, is because we spend our whole life in social hierarchies.
Therefore we are taught to respect authority figures higher up than us in the social hierarchy.
We are also told not to question their authority.
It can be said that we see their authority as legitimate.
Explain the agency theory for explaining obedience.
When people are given destructive orders by legitimate figures, they experience moral strain. This means that they feel the urge to obey the authority figure, but in the same time, they don’t want to feel responsible for horrible consequences.
Therefore they shift responsibility to the authority figure. This shift is known as the agentic shift, and it is when you shift from the autonomous state, to the agentic state. You now act as an agent to the authority figure, meaning you are not responsible for any consequences. This helps reduce moral strain.
Explain the authoritarian personality as an explanation for obedience.
The authoritarian personality, involves individual variables.
A person who truly believes in the social hierarchy. He unquestionably obeys those with high power ( higher in social hierarchy), but looks down on this with less power (lower in the social hierarchy).
These people tend to be aggressive, rigid and strict in their personality.
An authoritarian personality comes from strict parenting.
Explain how an authoritarian personality, comes from over strict parenting.
- It makes children obey unquestionably.
and - Leaves children to be frustrated and angry, because they have no freedom. They are too scared to express their anger to their parents, because they will be punished. Therefore they take it out on people who can’t punish them . Those with less power ( Those lower in the social hierarchy).
What does the F-scale measure?
It measures wether someone has an authoritarian personality or not.
