Situational Explanations For Obedience Flashcards
What is the Agentic state?
Milgram argued that people can obey horrific orders, not because of their own personalities but because of the situation that they are in. He suggested that people following orders go from a state of autonomy to an agentic state. This is known as the agentic shift. Once in an agentic state, people unthinkingly carry out orders and perceive themselves as merely an instrument of the authority figure. They think that thr authority is responsible for their actions and so they do not follow their own conscious or feel guilt for their actions.
Why does the agentic state occur?
This state occurs because in peoples experience - they authority figure is normally trustworthy, orders seem reasonable at first but become increasingly aggressive (gradual commitment), and people are psychologically protected from the consequences of their actions (buffers). One explanation why people adopt the agentic state is to maintain a positive self image. Any negative behaviour they display does not matter because they are not responsible for their actions. Once they are in the agentic state, they are afraid to break from it as it would seem arrogant and rude to the authority figure.
When did milgram think the agentic state developed?
He thought that the agentic state developed during human evolution and that it is necessary for hierarchies to function properly, which prevents chaos. We live in a society where we are constantly submitting to authority figures such as parents, teachers, the police… so obedience is essential.
Evaluation of agentic state
+ In milgrams experiment, participants were less likely to shock mr Wallace in the same room as him as they could see the consequences of their actions. This meant that there were no buffers. This supports the idea of the agentic state. Seeing mr Wallace’s direct pain would prevent the naive participant from entering the agentic state
- However without buffers, people should not go into the agentic state and obey an order to harm someone. Mandel reported the case of Major Wilhelm Trapp where in 1942 In a polish village he was ordered to take a large group of Jews to the edge of the village and have them shot. although thr members of his battalion were given the option not to shoot them and be assigned to other duties, the majority accepted the orde and the massacre went ahead. This occurred despite being in close proximity to the soldiers and how the soldiers could see the consequences of their actions.
WhT is legitimate authority?
Another situational explanation for obedience - claiming we recognise our own and other peoples position in the social hierarchy and they we obey these with a higher position in the social hierarchy and we will not obey those lower than us in the social hierarchy.
Legitimate authority is increase by visible symbols of authority such as uninform. Legitimate often requires an institute or a location - such as a prison or the military, especially if he commands are potentially harmful and destructive.
Evaluation Legitimate Authority c
+Hoffling found that nurses would obey dangerous orders from an unknown doctor because they were in a hospital location. Nurses received a phone call from an unknown doctor (secretly a confederate) called doctor smith. He asked the nurses to administer 20mg of a drug called Astroten (secretly a sugar pill) to a patient. The dose ordered was twice the recommended limit in the bottle which broke hospital regulations, and the orders were given over the phone by an unknown doctor and the medicine was not on the stock list. Despite the potential danger, 95% of nurses carried out these instructions, because doctors have legitimate authority in a hospital setting
+Bickman asked confederates to order passersby to either pick litter off the ground or move away from the bus stop. The confeds were either dressed as milkman, guard or civilian in smart clothes. 90% obeyed guard, 50% obeyed civilian. Person in guard uniform more likely to be perceived as a legitimate authority figure
- Legitimate authority doesn’t explain why some people can resist the orders of an authority figure. 35% Of participants in milgrams original experiment refused to obey the experimenter despite the experimenter having the higher legitimate authority in that situation. Meaning situational factors are not a complete reason for why people obey
