Social Influence: Explanations for Obedience - Legitimacy of authority and Agentic state

Question 1

Why is the authority that authority figures have legitimate?

Answer 1

In the sense that is agreed by society

Question 2

Give an example of an authority figure

Answer 2

parent, teacher, police officers

Question 3

What is ingrained in us from an early age?

Answer 3

To obey authority figures

Question 4

How does legitimacy of authority affect obedience?

Answer 4

Obedience increases

Question 5

What happens to obedience when a person perceives that an authority figure has legitimate authority?

Answer 5

Obedience increases

Question 6

According to the LOA explanation of obedience - when are we more likely to obey?

Answer 6

When a person perceives that an authority figure has legitimate authority

Question 7

What do we accept about an authority figure that makes them legitimate?

Answer 7

Their credentials

Question 8

What do we believe about an authority figure that makes them legitimate?

Answer 8

They know what they are doing

Question 9

Why do we obey authority figures from a young age?

Answer 9

It is ingrained in us - even when we believe the order may be unethical or unjust

Question 10

What is meant by the agentic state?

Answer 10

A state where an individual believes they are acting on behalf of an authority figure

Question 11

What do we call the state in which we believe we are responsible for our own actions?

Answer 11

Autonomous state

Question 12

What is meant by an autonomous state?

Answer 12

A state where we take personal responsibility for our actions

Question 13

What do we call the process of moving from an autonomous state to an agentic state?

Answer 13

Agentic shift

Question 14

What is the agentic shift?

Answer 14

The process of moving from an autonomous state to an agentic state

Question 15

When does the agentic shift occur?

Answer 15

When someone receives an order from an authority figure

Question 16

When in the agentic state, what does an individual lose and how do they feel?

Answer 16

Sense of personal responsibility and no longer feel guilty

Question 17

Why do people no longer feel guilty when they are in the agentic state?

Answer 17

They see themselves as carrying out the wishes of a more knowledgeable authority figure

Question 18

We are more likely to obey if the authority figure is perceived as… ?

Answer 18

Legitimate

Question 19

According to the AS explanation of obedience - when are we more likely to obey?

Answer 19

When a person is in an agentic state

Question 20

What happens to obedience when a person is in an agentic state?

Answer 20

Obedience increases

Question 21

According to the AS explanation of obedience, what happens when someone receives an order from an authority figure?

Answer 21

Agentic shift occurs

Question 22

What do we call the state where an individual believes they are acting on behalf of an authority figure?

Answer 22

Agentic state

Question 23

Milgram’s studies can be used as research to support which explanation of obedience?

Answer 23

Agentic state

Question 24

How do Milgram’s obedience studies support agentic state as an explanation of obedience?

Answer 24

Once participants no longer believed they were responsible, due to the experimenter taking responsibility, they were more obedient as an agentic shift had occurred.

Question 25

In Milgram’s obedience studies, when did participants continue to obey and give the electric shocks?

Answer 25

When the experimenter responded ‘I am responsible’ to the participants’ question of ‘Who is responsible if the learner is harmed?’

Question 26

How does Hofling’s research support legitimacy of authority as an explanation of obedience?

Answer 26

Due to the doctor having more perceived legitimate authority than the nurses, the nurses obeyed

Question 27

How does Hofling’s research support the agentic state as an explanation of obedience?

Answer 27

The nurses may have felt that the doctors were ultimately responsible as the authority figure, and so they obeyed

Question 28

What is the practical application that Hofling’s research has led to?

Answer 28

The training of nurses to reduce the likelihood of engaging in blind obedience and so they feel confident to challenge the legitimate authority of the doctor

Question 29

Hofling’s research has led to practical applications. Why? What principles are the research based on?

Answer 29

That the nurses obeyed because they felt they had to obey the authority figure due to the doctor’s legitimate authority and felt reduced responsibility for their actions of giving the medication

Question 30

How did the nurses show increased obedience in Hofling’s study?

Answer 30

21 out of the 22 nurses agreed to give the medication even though they knew not to take orders over the phone

Question 31

Why is the Authoritarian Personality seen as an alternative explanation for obedience?

Answer 31

It argues that obedience is due to internal characteristics RATHER THAN obeying due to perceiving the authority figure as legitimate / losing a sense of personal responsibility

Question 32

In Milgram’s studies, participants asked the experimenter ‘Who is responsible if the learner is harmed?’

Why does this support agentic state?

Answer 32

Participants obeyed the experimenter when they no longer believed they were responsible for their own actions (they were in an agentic state).

Question 33

Research to support agentic state as an explanation of obedience was seen in Milgram’s obedience studies. Why? What did Milgram’s participants ask the researcher?

Answer 33

‘Who is responsible if the learner is harmed?’

Question 34

In Milgram’s studies, participants asked the experimenter ‘Who is responsible if the learner is harmed’? Which explanation of obedience does this support?

Answer 34

Agentic state

Question 35

AO3: Why did 21 out of 22 nurses agree to give a dangerous dose of medication to patients when given orders from a doctor over the phone?

Answer 35

They perceived the doctor as having more legitimate authority than them and therefore obeyed the order.

Question 36

Why does Hofling’s research support agentic state as an explanation of obedience?

Answer 36

The nurses may have been in an agentic state and may have felt that the doctor was responsible as the authority figure and so obeyed the order to administer the deadly dose of medication.

Question 37

In Hofling’s research, the nurses obeyed due to the doctor having more perceived legitimate authority. What does this support?

Answer 37

Legitimacy of authority as an explanation of obedience

Question 38

Give two reasons why the nurses obeyed the doctor in Hofling’s research

Answer 38

LOA - due to the doctor having more perceived legitimate authority & AS - they may have felt that the doctors were ultimately responsible as the authority figure

Question 39

In Hofling’s research, the nurses obeyed as they may have felt that the doctors were ultimately responsible as the authority figure. What does this support?

Answer 39

Agentic state as an explanation of obedience