Obedience- Situational explanations Flashcards
What are the situational explanations for obedience?
-Agentic state
-Legitimacy of authority
What is agentic state
-A mental state where we do not feel any sense of personal responsibility for our behaviour because we believe ourselves to be acting for an authority figure
What is autonomous state?
-They are free to behave to their own principles and therefore feel a sense of responsibility for their own actions
- opposite of agentic state
What are binding factors?
-Aspects of the situation which will allow the person to minimise the damaging effect of their behaviour and remove their responsibility.
-They could shift responsibility onto the victim and say it is “their fault for enlisting”
What is Agentic shift?
-Shift from autonomy to agency which milgram proposed is because we view that person as an authority figure
What is the evaluation for Agentic state as an explanation for obedience
S:Research support: when a participant would resist briefly in milgram’s study the participant would ask “whos responsible if Mr wallace is harmed” and when the experimenter responded “Im responsible” the participant continued with no objections”- supports agentic state as once behaviour is no longer their responsibility is okay.
L:Limited explanation: Agentic state does not explain findings of obedience. Rank and Jacobson’s (1977) study 16/18 nurses disobeyed doctors to administer excessive drug to patient- remained autonomous despite order. Therefore agentic shift can only explain some findings.
HOWEVER, David Mandell (1998):My German Battalion 101 in WW2 shot civillians in polish town despite not having orders to do so -
What is legitimacy of authority?
-Suggests that we are more likely to obey people who we perceive to have a position of power of us
-This power is justified by the accepted social hierarchy
What is a consequence of legitimacy of authority
-some people are granted powers to punish other people and this is agreed upon (Police)
-This means that independence is given up
What is the evaluation for legitimacy of authority as an explanation for obedience?
S: explains Cultural differences:Kilham and Mann (1974) found that 16% of Australian women = 450 volts. Mantell found that 85% of Germans = 450 volts. This shows that in some cultures authority figures are more likely to have their position of power accepted.
L:Cannot explain all of disobedience: legitimacy of authority cannot explain examples of disobedience when hierarchies were clear. For example, the nurses in Rank and Johnson’s study showed how the nurses disobeyed an authority figure. This suggests dispositional explanations are more important in making somebody obedient.
S:Real life application: My Lai massacre where 504 unarmed civilians were killed and LT calley’s excuse was that he was just following orders
