Social Influence - Explanations of Obedience Flashcards
What are the 3 explanations of obedience?
- Situational variables
- Social psychological factors
- Dispositional explanations
Explain situational variables and the 3 different types
Milgram identified several factors influencing the level of obedience shown by Ps, all related to external cicumstances rather than Ps personalities. (Situational variables)
* Variable 1: Proximity
* Variable 2: Location
* Variable 3: Uniform
Explain Variable 1: Proximity
- In Milgram’s study when the teacher and learner were in the same room, obedience dropped to 40%
- In another condition, the teacher had to force the learner’s hand onto the shock plate (touch proximity condition) and obedience droped to 30%
- In another condition, the experimenter left the room and gave instructions to the teacher via telephone and obedience fell to 20.5%
Proximity explanation: Decreased proximity allows people to psychologically distance themselves from the consequences of their actions
Explain variable 2: location
- In another variation of the study, Milgram changed the location to a run down building rather than a lab, where the experimenter had less authority
- Obedience dropped to 47.5%
Location explanation: Obedience was higher in the university lab because the setting was legitimate and had authority.
Explain variable 3: Uniform
- Milgram’s experimenter wore a lab coat which gave him status
- When the experimenter wore regular clothes obedience was very low - 20%
Uniform explanation: The uniform of authority figure can give them status and someone without a uniform has less right to expect obedience
Explain Social Psychological Factor 1
The agentic state/shift
* People are autonomous individuals which means they behave voluntarily and are aware of the consequences of their actions
* A cognitive shift takes place where people move from their autonomous state to the agentic state where they regard themselves as an instrument for another person’s actions, they are the agents of others and aren’t responsible for their actions
What is the consequence of moing into the agentic state?
- People’s actions are the responsibility of the person in authority
- Milgram argues people mindlessly accept the orders from a person who they see as responsible in the situation and the person who’s responsible has power from their position in the social hierarchy
What causes people to undergo the agentic shift and what are binding factors?
- It’s a part of the socialisation process as we train children from an early age to be obedient to authority so we therefore accept what we’re told to do
- Binding factors: Aspects of the situation that allow the person to ignore/minimise the damaging effect of their behaviour (Factors that keep us in the agentic state)
Explain Social Psychological Factor 2
Legitimacy of authority
* Most societies are structured in a hierarchial way, meaning people in certain positions hold authority over others and most of us accept that authority figures have to be allowed to exercise social power over others
* Legitimacy of authority explains that we obey those in power because we respect their credentials and assume they know what they’re doing
Explain the Authoritarian Personality (A Dispositional Explanation)
- Adorno felt that personality factors (dispositional) could explain obedience more than situational factors e.g. the environment - He proposed it as the Authoritarian Personality
- The dispositional factors have been proposed to explain Milgram’s findings, such as Milgram found that Ps who were highly authoritarian tended to give stronger shocks
- Adorno came to believe that a high level of obedience was basically a psychological disorder and tried to locate the causes of it in the personality of the individual
What was the aim of Adorno’s study?
To understand what leads people to develop an authoritarian personality.
What was Adorno’s procedure?
- 1950 - investigated the causes of the obedient personality in a study of more than 2000 middle class white Americans
- He investigated their unconcious attitudes to other racial groups
- He developed an F scale (fascism scale) to measure an authoritarian personality
- The F scale contained 30 questions assessing 9 personality dimensions - Ps had to rate their agreement with each item on a 6 point scale, 1 being disagree strongly and 6 being agree strongly
What were the findings of Adorno’s study?
Adorno found that people with an authoritarian personality who scored highly on the F scale had these characteristics:
* Hostile to those percieved a lower status
* Showed excessive respect towards people of percieved higher status
* Extreme respect for authority
* Were conformist
* Dogmatic - firm in their principles
* Prejudiced
What did Adorno conclude about his study?
The Authoritarian Personality formed in childhood as a result of a harsh parenting style, which featured extremely strict discipline, high standards and severe criticism of failures.
