Reasons for obedience Flashcards
What is obedience?
Responding to a direct order from a perceived authority figure.
What factors/theories affect obedience?
Social impact theory, agency theory, gender, authoritarian personality, locus on control.
How does gender affect obedience?
People tend to assume that females are more obedient than males due to old stereotypes.
Proof that gender does/does not affect obedience.
Sheridan & King-> live puppy getting shocked, 100% of woman obeyed, 54% of male participants.
Kilham & Mann-> replicates Milgram, 16% of females obeyed, 40% of males obeyed.
How does an authoritarian personality affect obedience?
Authoritarian personality is typically more submissive but hostile to those they deem beneath them due to traditional values held. Scored with F values.
Proof that personality types do/do not have an effect on obedience.
Milgram & Elms compared 20 obedient and 20 defiant participants from one of the variations and found that those who were more obedient had higher F scores.
How does locus of control impact obedience?
Internal locus of control-> taking own responsibility for actions so less likely to be influenced.
External locus of control-> puts responsibility onto somebody else so more likely to be obedient.
Proof that locus of control impacts obedience.
118 participants from variations 1-4 were asked to judge if they felt responsible for giving shocks, 48% of those who disobeyed put the blame on themselves.
What is agency theory?
Autonomous state-> acting of own free will with full responsibility.
Moral strain-> anxiety felt over task given that goes against moral code.
Agentic shift-> responsibility of the action begins to be put on authority figure.
Agentic state-> actively carrying out the order.
What is social impact theory?
Strength, immediacy, and number effect obedience.
Multiplicative effect: obedience=SxIxN
Divisional effect: S/N of targets
Psychosocial law: Obedience increases with every additional source but at a decreasing rate.
Proof of psychosocial law?
Bickham and Berkowitz, 1-15 confederates look up at 6th floor of building in public space, for 1 42% of passerbys looked up, for 15 86% of passerbys looked up
How does momentum of compliance affect obedience?
An order begins as small and simple but slowly escalates so effects aren’t as profound.
How does culture affect obedience?
Collectivist cultures (China, Israel) behave as a collective group and value interdependence so more obedient.
Individualistic cultures (US, UK) behave more independently and promote individual goals do resist conformity.
What are the individual factors affecting obedience?
Gender, authoritarian personality, empathy, locus of control.
What are the situational factors affecting obedience?
Momentum of compliance, proximity, status of authority, culture.
