obedience: social-psychological explanation

Question 1

What is legitimacy of authority?

Answer 1

Where authority becomes leigitimate in a sense that its agreed by society- unwritten rule-
Most accept authority and allowe them to exercise social power to allow society to run smoothly

Question 2

3 key details of legitimacy of authority

Answer 2

1. We learn it early on
2. Taught it at school/by parents
3. Social power is when people enforce power onto us

Question 3

What is agentic state?

Answer 3

A mental state where we feel no personal responsibility for our actions. This frees us from demand of our conscience and allows us to obey destructive orders.

Question 4

What did Milgram propose?

Answer 4

People who are willing to follow destructive orders believe they are acting for someone else.
Agent experiences anxiety when know they are doing wrong but feel they have to obey. Eg Milgrams p’s started sweating when couldn’t withdraw

Question 5

Why does obedience to destructive authority occur?

Answer 5

Because a person does not take responsibility for their own actions

Question 6

What is the autonomous state?

Answer 6

Independent, behave according to own principles and feel responsible for own actions

Question 7

What is an agentic shift?

Answer 7

Autonomous to agentic state
Occurs when in presence of someone of legitimate authority/someone in higher position of social hierarchy

Question 8

Strengths of explanation

Answer 8

1. Supporting research from Blass and Schmitt- shown Milgrams study asked to identify who responsible for harm, blamed experimenter rather than participant of bc expert authority, they was in agentic shift
2. Supporting research from Hamilton- war crimes understood in terms of legitimacy of authority, soldiers felt acting as agents for state.

Question 9

Limitations of evaluation

Answer 9

1. Mandel- German reserve police battalion men shot civilians in Poland despite told could do other duties not directly ordered to murder, challenges agentic state.
2. Some p’s didn’t obey (35%), challenges reliability
3. Outdated questions- doesn’t rep modern day, questions on f-scale included homosexuality as criminal so ppl less likely to have AP as questions differ from views today, cannot apply/generalise.