situational explanations

Question 1

agentic state

Answer 1

we fail to take responsibility because we believe we are acting on behalf of an authority figure

Question 2

autonomous state

Answer 2

we feel free of other influences and so take personal responsibility for our actions

Question 3

agentic shift

Answer 3

we switch from autonomous to agent because we perceive someone else is an authority figure to be obeyed

binding factors maintain us in agentic state - they allow us to minimise obedient behaviour and reduce moral strain

Question 4

legitimate authority

Answer 4

some people have positions of authority because they have been entrusted by society with certain powers

Question 5

power

Answer 5

one power is the power to punish, so we obey authority out of fear of punishment, which we learn in childhood

Question 6

destructive obedience

Answer 6

we behave in cruel ways if the legitimate authority orders us to do something destructive

Question 7

research support

Answer 7

P - strength for agentic state is Milgram’s studies into obedience
E - most of participants resisted giving shocks and often asked questions
E - one even asked who is responsible if the learner is harmed, to which the experimenter replied that the experimenter is responsible, the participant then went through with the procedure
L - once participants perceived they were no longer responsible for own behaviour, more easily the experimenter’s agent

Question 8

a limited explanation

Answer 8

P - limitation is that agentic shift doesnt explain many research findings about obedience
E - Rank and Jacobson’s study where 16 in 18 nurses disobeyed orders to give excessive drug dose
E - doctor authority figure but almost all nurses remained autonomous
L - agentic shift can only account for some situations of obedience

Question 9

obedience alibi revisited

Answer 9

P - Mandel - described one incident in WW2
E - reverse police battalion 101
E - men shot many civilians despite being ordered not to
L - they were told they could be assigned to other duties if they preferred - they behaved autonomously

Question 10

explains cultural differences

Answer 10

P - strength of legitimacy explanation is useful account of cultural difference in obediences
E - many studies show countries differ in degree to which people are obedience - Kilham and Mann only 16% of Australian women to 450 volts
E - Mantel - 85% of german participants
L - in come cultures, authority more likely to be accepted as legitimate and entitled to demand obedience - how society is structured and children raised

Question 11

cannot explain all disobedience

Answer 11

P - limitation is that legitimacy cannot explain instances of disobedience in a hierarchy where legitimacy of authority is clear and accepted
E - nurses - rank and jacobson - most were disobedient despite working in a hierarchical authority structure
E - significant minority of milgrams disobeyed despite recognising the experimenter’s scientific authority
L - some people may be more obedient than others - innate tendencies to obey or disobey greater influence than legitimacy of an authority figure

Question 12

real-world crimes of obedience

Answer 12

P - rank and jacobson found that nurses were prepared to disobey a legitimate authority figure however
E - Kelman and Hamilton - real-world crime of obedience such as My Lai massacre can be understood in terms of power of hierarchy in US army
E - commanding officers operate within a clearer hierarchy that have a greater power to punish
L - suggesting useful explanations for this with clear hierarchy

Question 13

binding factors

Answer 13

binding factors maintain us in agentic state - they allow us to minimise obedient behaviour and reduce moral strain