Obedience - Situational Explanations

Question 1

Agentic state

Answer 1

A mental state where we feel no personal responsibility for our behaviour as we believe to be acting for an authority figure

Question 2

Autonomous state

Answer 2

A mental state where we feel responsibility for our behaviour as we behave according to our own principles

Question 3

Milgram (1963) suggests an agentic shift occurs when…

Answer 3

A person perceives someone else as an authority figure with greater power as they have a higher position in a social hierarchy

Question 4

What are binding factors?

Answer 4

Aspects of the situation that allow the person to ignore or minimise the damaging effect of their behaviour and thus reduce the ‘moral strain’ they are feeling

Question 5

Legitimacy of authority

Answer 5

An explanation for obedience which suggests that’s e are more likely to obey people who we perceive to have authority over us. This authority is justified by the individual’s position of power within a social hierarchy

Question 6

Destructive authority

Answer 6

When legitimate authority becomes harmful (eg. When the experimenter used prods to order the participants to be obedient)

Question 7

Evaluation of the agentic state

Answer 7

• Research supporting agency (eg. Obedience increased with the experimenter in Milgram’s study claimed it was his responsibility)
• Cannot explain instances of disobedience within a social hierarchy (eg. Rank & Jacobson found 16/18 nurses disobeyed doctors orders when they knew it was wrong)

Question 8

Evaluation of legitimacy of authority

Answer 8

• Real life application (eg. My Lai Massacre 1968 where thousands of American soldiers killed innocent Vietnamese civilians)
• Cultural differences (eg. 16% Australians delivered 450V shock, 80% Germans)