obedience: agentic state and legitimacy of authority Flashcards
what are the explanations for obedience?
situational explanations:
agentic state
legitimacy of authority
dispositional explanation:
authoritarian personality
what is the Agentic state and the Autonomous state? (situational)
agentic- individual is acting on behalf of someone else, feel they have diminished personal responsibility therefore don’t feel guilty
autonomous- assumes full responsibility for their behaviours and actions
EVAL - agentic state explanation
(research support)
milgram found obedience rates dropped to 20.5% over telephone
participants passed responsibility over to experimenter in the first variation
where 65% obeyed - in agentic state
this shows diffusing responsibility and results in an increase in obedience
EVAL- agentic state explanation
(real life examples)
nazi commander- his defence was simply following orders
that he saw himself in the agentic state, obeying someone higher ranked
shows that the defence can be and is used by those who have committed crimes
what is meant by legitimacy of authority? (situational explanation)
the amount of perceived social power held by the person giving instructions
we are socialised to obey orders of individuals that society has given the right to demand obedience
EVAL- legitimate of authority explanation
(research support)
to create a sense of legitimacy
researcher wore white lab coat
obedience was high- 65% obeyed
suggesting perceived legitimacy of experimenter had effect on obedience levels
further support: bickman
new york experiment
security guard- 82% obeyed
normal clothes- 36% obeyed
EVAL- legitimate of authority explanation
(cultural differences)
kilham and mann repeated monograms study in australia
found only 16% obeyed to the top of V scale
however
mantell found in germany 85% obeyed
shows in some cultures authority is more likely to be accepted as legitimate
supportive findings from cross cultural research increase validity of explanation
EVAL- legitimacy of authority as an explanation
(does not provide a complete explanation of why we obey)
doesn’t consider other factors
also dispositional factors that can influence obedience levels
e.g individual having specific authoritarian traits
in addition - situational explanations fail to acknowledge the complexity of factors affecting obedience such as an individuals personality
what is the authoritarian personality as an explanation for obedience? (dispositional explanation)
collection of traits that have evolved as their personality has developed throughout their childhood
possibly due to strict parenting
means that obedience is due to an individuals personality not the situation
EVAL- authoritarian personality explanation
(research support) Adorno
developed 9 dimensions including the F scale
participants rating how far they agree with statements
found people who scored high identified with strong people
also strong positive correlation between authoritarianism and prejudice
provides support that those with A personality have a tendency to be highly obedient to authority
EVAL - authoritarian personality as explanation
(research support) milgram and elms
conducted interviews
those participants in original study who were fully obedient.
scored higher on tests of authoritarian personality
supports idea link between Authoritarian personality and obedience
EVAL - authoritarian personality
(methodological criticism)
methodology used - measures range of variables and found many significant correlations
however cannot validate CAUSE
it’s only a LINK so impossible to narrow conclusion that A personality causes obedience
just that there is a RELATIONSHIP
EVAL - authoritarian personality
(over simplistic)
take more of a holistic view when trying to explain obedience as there are many other situational factors and a number of interconnected factors and variables that may determine authoritarianism and obedience
