Situational (Social-Psychological) Explanations Flashcards
Explain what social-psychological arguments and state the 2
A way of explaining obedience regarding the dynamics of social hierarchies.
Agentic state and legitimacy of authority.
Define legitimacy of authority
A person who is perceived to be in a position of social control within a situation (condition needed to shift into agentic state)
Define agentic state
When a person perceives themselves as an agent carrying out another persons wishes and thus no longer feels responsible for their behaviour.
What is an agentic shift?
Most of the time we are in an autonomous state where we are free to behave according to our own principles. However, in the presence of a perceived authority figure, they shift from being autonomous to taking on the agentic state.
What are binding factors?
Aspects of the situation that bind us to the task and help us to block out the moral strain we are experiencing
2 strengths of social-psychological explanations and counter
Research support:
Blass and Schmitt (2001) Showed a film of Milgram’s study and students (the participants) blamed the experimenter for harm caused to the learner. They argued that obedience was due to the naïve participants perceiving the experimenter as an legitimate authoritative figure. They also suggested that the naïve participant was acting as an ‘agent’ on behalf of the experimenter, demonstrating how their perceived authority led them to shift from an autonomous to an agentic state.
Most of Milgram’s participants resisted giving shocks at some point and often asked the experimenter “who is responsible if Mr Wallace is harmed?”. When the experimenter replied “I’m responsible”, the participants often went through without further objections.
Real-life application:
Can be used to explain how obedience can lead to real life war crimes. For example, the My Lai Massacre in 1968 in which unarmed civilians killed, women and girls raped and people shot as they left their houses, Can be explained in terms of the power hierarchy of the US army. Only one soldier faced charges and when he was found guilty, his defence was that he was “following orders”. COUNTER - Obedience alibi, used as the basis for justifying harm to others.
2 Limitations of social-psychological explanations for obedience
Expression of cruel impulses:
Milgram did detect signs of cruelty among his participants who had used the situation to express their sadistic impulses. In Zimbardo’s prison experiment guards inflicted increasing cruelty on prisoners without an authority figure instructing them to do so. Social-psychological factors perhaps not the cause of behaviour but individual characteristics .
Obedience alibi:
Can serve as the basis for justifying the harm of others. People may engage in unquestioning obedience due to legitimacy of authority or the agentic state, provides an excuse for evil acts.
