SI: Explanations Of Obedience

Question 1

Social-psychological factors of obedience

Answer 1

Legitimacy of authority
Agentic state

Question 2

Agentic state

Answer 2

Milgram believed that in cases of obedience to destructive authority, individuals believe they are not responsible for their own actions

Act as an agent
Complete orders under mental state where they feel no sense of responsibility or guilt for they actions ‘Agentic state’

Question 3

Agentic shift

Answer 3

Autonomous state (independence, free will, feel responsibility
In the presence of perceived authority figure: change from being autonomous to taking on Agentic state

-> Agentic shift (named by Milgram)

Question 4

Binding factors

Answer 4

Allow us to block out the moral strain from doing bad things when obeying
Social etiquette- fears feeling arrogant/rude by breaching previous commitment made to experimenter
Denying responsibility
Making out it’s the victims fault

Question 5

Legitimacy of authority

Answer 5

The person we are obeying must be perceived to have legitimate authority for us to act in an Agentic state

Society is structured in a social hierarchy with those at the top holding positions of legitimate authority
We accept that they can exert their power in order to keep society in order
Give up independence- they have the power to punish us