Obedience: Social-Psychological Factors Flashcards
What is the social-psychological explanation?
Concerns the influence of others on an individual’s behaviour, rather than external factors in the situation
Who proposed the agentic theory?
Milgram
What is meant by the agentic theory?
- We act as an agent in response to someone in authority
- Easy to deny personal responsibility for our action
What are the ways in which people can act according to the agentic theory?
- Autonomous state
- Agentic state
Define the autonomous state:
Individuals direct their own behaviour, and take responsibility for the consequences
Define the agentic state:
Individuals allow someone else to direct their behaviour – they pass responsibility to them
What is the agentic shift according to the agentic theory?
People move from the autonomous state into the agentic state when confronted with an authority figure.
What is binding factors?
Aspects of the situation that allow a person to minimise the damaging effect of their behaviour.
What are two theories of social-psychological explanation?
- Agentic State
- Legitimacy Theory
Define Legitimate:
- Being in compliance with the law
- Being in accordance with established or accepted patterns and standards
- Based on logical reasoning
- Authentic; genuine
Define Legitimacy of Authority:
An explanation for obedience which suggests that we are m-ore likely to obey people who we perceive to have authority over us
-Authority is justified by individuals position of power
What were the three main factors to explain obedience suggested by Kelman and Hamilton (1989)?
- Legitimacy of the system
- Legitimacy of authority within the system
- Legitimacy of demands or orders given
What is a legitimacy of the system?
This concerns the extent to which the ‘body’ is a legitimate source of authority
What is an example of legitimacy of the system?
- Government
- Army
- School
What is the legitimacy of authority within the system?
- Power of individuals hold to give orders because of their position in the system
- Linked with status
What is the legitimacy of demands or orders given?
-Extent with which the order is perceived to be a legitimate area for the authority figure
What is destructive authority?
Using legitimate power for destructive purposes
What is an example of a destructive authority in real life?
Hitler
What is an example of a destructive authority in Milgrams experiment?
Experimenter using prods
Research which supports agentic state?
Blass and Schmitt (2001)
What did Blass and Schmitt (2001) find?
Had a group of students identify who should be blamed for teachers action in Milgrams experiment
- Students blamed experimenter
- Believed participants were agents of authority
Limitations of agentic state:
Dispostional rather than situational
-Cannot explain why people disobey authority figures
Evaluation of legitimacy of authority in terms of cultural differences:
- GOOD
- Reflects the ways different societies are structured
Who criticised Milgram for the obedience alibi?
Mandel (1998)
