Obedience: Situational Explanations Flashcards
Milgram’s initial interest in obedience was sparked by…
the trial of Adolf Eichmann in 1961 for war crimes
Who was Adolf Eichmann?
A man who had been in charge of Nazi death camps and trialled for war crimes
Why did the trial of Adolf Eichmann spark Milgram’s initial interest in obedience?
He had been in charge of Nazi death camps and his defence was that he was only obeying orders.
Adolf Eichmann argued that he was only obeying orders. This led to Milgram proposing that obedience to destructive authority occurs because…
a person does not take responsibility and instead they believe they are active for someone else
What does it mean to be an active agent?
Your obedience to destructive authority occurs because you don’t take responsibility and instead believe you are active for someone else
What is an agent?
Someone who acts for or in place of another
Agents experience high/low anxiety when they realise what they are doing is wrong
high
Agents experiencing high anxiety when they realise what they are doing is wrong can be called…
moral strain
Agents feel _________ to disobey
powerless
Milgram observed that many of his participants said they wanted to ____
stop
Milgram observed that many of his participants said they wanted to stop but…
seemed powerless to do so
Milgram observed that many of his participants said they wanted to stop but seemed powerless to do so. What is this state called?
Agentic state
Binding factors
Aspects of the situation that allow the person to ignore or minimise the damaging effect of their behaviour
In Milgram’s experiment, aspects of the situation that allow the person to ignore or minimise the damaging effect of behaviour had what impact on them?
Reduced the ‘moral strain’ they were feeling
Give an example of a strategy that Milgram proposed participants used to reduce ‘moral strain’ they were feeling
Any from shifting responsibility to the victim and denying the damage they were doing to the victims
In Milgram’s experiment, how would a participant shift responsibility to the victim?
For example by thinking they were foolish to volunteer
Why was it easy for participants in Milgram’s experiment to deny the damage they were doing to the victims?
They couldn’t see them
True/False: most of Milgram’s participants resisted giving the shocks at some point
True
True/False: Milgram’s participants often asked the experimenter questions about the procedure
True
When participants in Milgram’s experiment asked who is responsible if the learner is harmed and the experimenter responded saying they were responsible, what happened?
Participants often went through the procedure quickly with no further objections
When participants were told that the experimenter was responsible for any harm caused in Milgram’s experiment, they went through the procedure quickly with no further objections. What does this show?
Once participants perceived they were no longer responsible for their own behaviour, they acted more easily as the experimenter’s agent
What is the opposite of the agentic state?
Autonomous state
A person in the autonomous state is…
free to behave according to their own principles
A person in the autonomous state feels…
a sense of responsibility of their own actions
Agentic shift
Shift from autonomy to ‘agency’
When did Milgram suggest that the agentic shift occurs?
When a person perceives someone else as an authority figure
In most social groups, when one person is in charge others defer to the…
legitimate authority of this person
In most social groups, when one person is in charge others defer to the legitimate authority of this person. This is a shift from…
autonomy to agency
Rank and Jacobson argued that the agentic shift…
doesn’t explain many research findings about obedience
What did Rank and Jacobson find?
Found that 16 out of 18 hospital nurses disobeyed orders from a doctor to administer an excessive drug dose to a patient
In Rank and Jacobson’s study, who was the doctor?
An obvious authority figure
In Rank and Jacobson’s study, almost all nurses remained __________
autonomous
True/False: In Rank and Jacobson’s study, almost all nurses remained autonomous, unlike many of Milgram’s participants
False: Many of Milgram’s participants remained autonomous
Rank and Jacobson’s research suggests that, at best…
the agentic shift can only account for some situations of obedience
Most societies are structured in a hierarchical way, where people in certain positions…
hold authority over the rest of us
Give 3 examples of people who have authority over us at times
Any 3 from parents, teachers, police officers, nightclub bouncers, etc.
The authority we wield is legitimate in the sense that…
it is agreed by society
Most of us accept that authority figures have to/shouldn’t be allowed to exercise social power over others
have to
Why do most of us accept that authority figures have to be allowed to exercise social power over others?
This allows society to function smoothly
What is one consequence of legitimate authority figures being allowed to exercise social power over others?
Some people are granted the power to power to punish others
We generally agree that the ______ and ______ have the power to punish wrongdoers
police, courts
We are willing to give some of our independence and to hand control of our behaviour to people we trust, to…
exercise their authority appropriately
We learn acceptance of legitimate authority from what point in our life?
Childhood
Who do we initially learn acceptance of legitimate authority from?
Parents
After parents, who do we learn acceptance of legitimate authority from?
Teachers and adults generally
Problems arise when legitimate authority becomes ___________
destructive
Name an example of a charismatic and powerful leader who has used their legitimate powers for destructive purposes
Any from Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, etc.
Ordering people to behave in ways that are cruel and dangerous is an example of…
an authority figure becoming destructive
How was destructive authority obvious in Milgram’s study?
The experimenter used prods to order participants to behave in ways that went against their consciences
Legitimacy of authority is a useful explanation to account for ________ differences in obedience
cultural
Many studies show that different countries differ/are consistent in the degree to which people are obedient to authority
differ
What did Kilham & Mann find?
Only 16% of female Australian participants went up to 450 volts in a Milgram-style study
What did Mantell find?
85% of German participants went up to 450 volts in a Mantell-style study
The legitimacy explanation of obedience shows that, in some cultures, authority is…
more likely to be accepted as legitimate
The legitimacy explanation of obedience show that authority is more likely to be accepted as legitimate in some cultures, leading to authority figures…
being more entitled to demand obedience from individuals
The differences in obedience between cultures reflects the way that different societies are…
structured and how children are raised to perceive authority figures
One limitation of the legitimacy explanation of authority is that it cannot explain instances of disobedience in a hierarchy where…
legitimacy of authority is clear and accepted
Name an example of a study where there was disobedience even though legitimacy of authority was clear and accepted
Rank & Jacobson’s nurse study
Why is Rank & Jacobson’s nurse study an example of disobedience in a hierarchy where the legitimacy of authority is clear and accepted?
Most of them were disobedient despite working in a rigidly hierarchical structure
True/False: A significant minority of Milgram’s participants disobeyed despite recognising the experimenter’ s scientific authority
True
The fact that legitimacy of authority cannot explain instances of disobedience in a hierarchy where the legitimacy of authority is clear and accepted suggests…
some people may just be more (or less) obedient than others
The suggestion that some people may just be more (or less) obedient than others suggests…
it is possible that innate tendencies to obey or disobey have a greater influence than the legitimacy of an authority figure
