obedience - situational explanations

Question 1

name the situational explanations

Answer 1

• agentic state
• legitimacy of authority

Question 2

who proposed the agency theory

Answer 2

milgram

Question 3

describe agentic state

Answer 3

• obedience to destructive authority happens due to individual failing to take responsibility
• ‘agent’

Question 4

what does an ‘agent’ feel

Answer 4

• high levels of anxiety (moral strain)
• powerless to disobey

Question 5

2 states within the agency theory & definitions

Answer 5

• autonomous state = (opposite of agentic state) individuals free to behave according to own principles & obtain sense of responsibility for actions
• agentic state = surrender free will & conscience to serve interests of wider group –> see ourselves as agents of authority

Question 6

what’s it called when we go from 1 state to the other

Answer 6

agentic shift (milgram 1974) = occurs when someone perceives another as an authority figure, with a higher position in a social hierarchy

Question 7

why do individuals remain in the agentic state & explain

Answer 7

due to binding factors
–> allow ‘agent’ to minimise/ignore the damaging effect of their behaviour which reduces ‘moral strain’

Question 8

evaluation of milgram’s agency theory - AO3
+) research support from milgram’s own studies
-) agentic shift doesn’t explain many research findings on obedience

Answer 8

+)
P: research support from milgram’s own studies
E:
- most of his participants resisted giving electric shocks at some point & often questioned experimenter about the procedure
- one of these questions was ‘who is responsible if mr wallace is harmed?’ & when the experimenter replied ‘i’m responsible’, the participants often continued through the procedure quickly without any further objections
T: demonstrates once participants believed they weren’t responsible for their own behaviour, they acted more easily as the experimenter’s agent, as milgram suggested

-)
P: agentic shift doesn’t explain many research findings on obedience
E:
- doesn’t explain findings of rank & jacobson’s (1977) study
- they found 16/18 hospital nurses disobeyed orders from doctor to administer excessive drug dose to a patient
- doctor was clearly an authority figure but almost all nurses remained autonomous
T: suggests that the agentic shift can only account for some situations of obedience, at best

Question 9

according to legitimacy of authority, who are people more likely to obey

Answer 9

those who we perceive to have more authority over us

Question 10

what is the authority justified by

Answer 10

individuals position of power within a social hierarchy

Question 11

when do we learn our authority figures

Answer 11

from our childhood, parent & teachers (etc.)

Question 12

consequence of legitimacy to authority

Answer 12

some individuals granted power to punish - eg. police, courts

Question 13

give an example of when legitimacy of authority became destructive

Answer 13

charismatic leaders (eg. hitler, stalin) use their legitimate powers for destructive purposes & order people to behave in cruel/dangerous ways

Question 14

evaluation of legitimacy of authority - AO3
+) useful account of cultural differences in obedience
-) cannot explain instances of disobedience in hierarchy where legitimacy of authority is clear/accepted
+) practical application

Answer 14

+)
P: useful account of cultural differences in obedience
E:
- many studies demonstrate that countries differ in the degree to which people are obedient to authority
- kilham & mann (1974) found only 16% of female australian participants went to 450V in similar study to milgram
- however, mantell (1971) found a different figure for german participants at 85%
T: in some cultures, authority is more likely to be accepted as legitimate & entitled to demand obedience from individuals, which reflects the way different societies are structured & how children may be raised to perceive authority figures

-)
P: cannot explain instances of disobedience in a hierarchy where legitimacy of authority is clear & accepted
E:
- nurses in rank & jacobson (1977) study
- doctor was an obvious authority figure in rigidly hierarchal authority structure but almost all nurses remained autonomous
- also, significant minority of milgram’s participants disobeyed despite recognising experimenter’s scientific authority
T: implies some people are more/less obedient than others & it is possible that innate tendencies to obey/disobey have greater influence on behaviour than legitimacy of authority figure

+)
P: practical application
E: kelman & hamilton (1989) argue that real-world crime of obedience (eg. mai lai massacre) can be understood in terms of power to the hierarchy of the us army - commanding orders operate within a clear, legitimate hierarchy
T: means there’s evidence to prove legitimacy of authority happens in everyday life & thus, means the theory obtains high mundane realism