Obedience: Social- Psychological Factors Flashcards
What is the agentic state?
A mental state where we feel no responsibility for our behaviour because we believe ourselves to be acting for an authority figure.
What is the opposite of the agentic state?
Autonomous state.
What is the autonomous state?
When a person is free to behave according to their own principles and therefore feels responsibility for their actions.
What is the shift between the autonomous state to the agentic state called?
The agentic shift.
When did Milgram suggest the agentic shift takes place?
When a person perceives someone else as the figure of authority. This person has greater power as they have greater power in a social hierarchy.
What is a binding factor?
Aspects of a situation that allow a person to ignore or minimise the damaging effect of their behaviour and therefore reduce the ‘moral strain’ they are feeling. Strategies used e.g. denying the damage they were doing to their victims.
What is the legitimacy of authority?
An explanation for obedience which suggest we are more likely to obey people we perceive to have authority over us. This authority is justified by the individuals position of power within a social hierarchy.
What is a consequence of legitimacy of authority?
Some people are granted power to punishes others and we accept it. This means we give up some of our independence and hand control of our behaviour over to people we trust to exercise their authority appropriately.
What is destructive authority?
When charismatic and powerful leaders (such as Hitler and Stalin) use their legitimate powers for destructive purposes, ordering people to behave in callous, cruel, stupid and dangerous ways. This is shown in Milgram’s research when the experimenter used prods to order ppts to behave in ways that went against their consciences.
Evaluation of the agentic state: research support.
Blass and Schmitt showed students a film of Milgram’s experiment and asked them who was responsible. They blamed the experimenter as they recognised legitimate authority as the cause of obedience.
Evaluation of agentic state: A limited explanation.
Does not explain the fact that some participants did not obey. It also does not explain the findings of Hofling et al’s research. The nurses handed over responsibility to the doctor, they should have shown similar levels of anxiety to Milgram’s participants because they understood their role in a destructive process. However this was not the case.
Evaluation of the legitimacy of authority: Cultural differences.
A strength is that it is a useful account of cultural differences in obedience. Many countries differ in the degree to which people are traditionally obedient. Found in Australia only 16% of ppts went right up to 450v. On the other hand, 85% of Germans did. This shows in some cultures, authority is more likely to be seen as legitimate and the person obeyed. Such supportive findings increase validity.
