Obedience : Situational explanations

Question 1

What are the 2 Situational explanations to obedience?

Answer 1

Agentic State

Legitimacy of authority

Question 2

Outline Agentic State

Answer 2

Agentic state is acting on behalf of another person
- it is a mental state where the person become an agent for another
- in this state they do not feel any personal responsibility for their actions
- they pass on responsibility to the person they percieve to have legitimate authority

Question 3

Outline legitimacy of authority

Answer 3

LOA is when we obey people further up the social hierarchy, e.g parents,teachers,police

• the power that authorities wield on us is legitimate because it is agreed by society, authority figures should exercise social power over others to allow society to function smoothly
• We give up some independence to people we trust to exercise authority properly, we learn to accept authority during childhood

Question 4

What is one strength of agentic state?

Answer 4

Research support from Milgram
- Participants asked who is responsible for harm done to learner
- when the experimenter replied “I am” participants continued
- showing particpants act easily when in the mental state of an agent

Question 5

What is one limitation of agentic state?

Answer 5

The agnetic shift doesnt explain many research findings

• Jacobson (1977) found most nurses disobeyed a doctors order to give a excessive drug dose
• the doctor was an authority figure but the nurdses remained autonomous and didnt shift into agentic state
• suggesting agentic shift can only explain obedience in some situations

Question 6

What is Autonomous State?

Answer 6

Autonomous state is when a person behaves according to their principles and feels responsible for their actions.

Question 7

What is the Agentic Shift?

Answer 7

The shift from autonomy to being an agent is called the agentic shift.

Milgram suggested that this occurs when we perceive someone as an authority figure;

This persons has power because of their position in the social hierarchy

Question 8

What is one strength of legitimacy of authority?

Answer 8

LOA can explain cultural differences

Research shows that countries differ in obedience than to authority

For example, 16% of Australian women obeyed (Mann 1974), and 85% of german participants obeyed (Mantell 1971)

This shows that authority is more likely seen as legitimate is some cultures, reflecting upbringing

Question 9

What is one limitation of legitimacy of authority?

Answer 9

One limitation is that LOA can’t explain all disobedience

People may disobey even when they accept the legitimacy of the hierarchal authority structure

For example most of (Rank and Jacobson) nurses were disobedient, as were some of milgrams participants

This suggests that innate tendencies towards disobedience may be more import than legitimacy of authority