obedience social psychological factors (reasons for obedience) Flashcards
what is the agentic state
the agentic state is where we feel no personal responsibility for our behaviour because we believe ourselves to be acting for an authority figure, i.e. as their agent. This frees us from the demands of our conscience and allows us to obey even a destructive authority figure
how did Milgram propose the idea of the agentic state / how does obedience to a destructive authority figure occur
Milgram initial interest in obedience was sparked by the trail of Eichmann in 1961 of war crimes. He defended his actions by saying he was only obeying orders.
This lead to Milgram to propose obedience to destructive authority occurs because a person does not take responsibility - acting for someone else “an agent”. This agent is not an unfeeling puppet - thy experience “moral strain” when they realise that they are doing is wrong, but fell powerless to obedience
what is the autonomous state
the autonomous state is the opposite to the agentic state.
“Autonomy” means to be independent or free. So a person in an autonomous state is free to behave according to their principles, therefore, they feel a sense of responsibility
what is the shift from the autonomy to agentic state called
the shift from autonomy to agentic is called agentic shift. Milgram (1974) suggests this occurs when a person perceives someone else as a figure of authority.
This person has a greater power because their position in a social heirachy.
e.g. most social groups when one person is in charge others defer to this person and shift from autonomy to agency
what are binding factors/ why do individuals remain in the agentic state
Milgram raised the question: “why individuals remain in this agentic state
Milgram had observed that many of his participants spoke as if they wanted to quit but seemed unable to do so. This is due to binding factors
Bindings factors are aspects of the situation that allow the person to ignore or minimise the damaging effect of their behaviour and thus reduce the moral strain they are feeling
Milgram proposed a number of strategies that the participants used:
- shifting the blame to the victim ( “he was foolish to volunteer”)
- denying the damage they were doing to the victim
what is legitimacy of authority
legitimacy of authority is an explanation for obedience
This suggests that we are likely to obey people who perceive to have authority over us. This authority is justified (legitimate) by the individual’s position of power within a social heirarchy.
Most societies are structured in a hierarchical way, people in certain positions hold authority over the rest of us e.g. parents, teachers, police officers.
The authority they wield is legitimate in the sense it is agreed by society . Most of us accept that these authority figures have to be allowed to exercise social power over others because this allows society to function smoothly
what are the consequences of legitimacy of authority
some people are granted the power to punish others- most of us accept that the police and courts have the power to punish wrongdoers.
We are therefore willing to give up some of our independence and to hand our behaviour to people we trust to exercise their authority appropriately.
where do we learn acceptance of authority from
from childhood by initially parents teachers (adults)
what is destructive authority
problems arise when legitmate authority becomes destructive e.g. charismatic and powerful leader (such as Hitler, Stalin and Pol Pot) can use their legitimate powers for destrutive purposes
e.g.
ordering people to behave in ways that are callous, cruel, stupid and dangerous
how was destructive authority displayed in Milgram’s experiment
the experimenter used prods to order the participant to act against their conscience
