Social Influence Lesson 8-13 Flashcards
What are the two main explanations of obedience?
- The Agentic State
- Legitimacy of Authority
These explanations help to understand why individuals may follow orders, even harmful ones.
What is the Agentic State Theory and who was it proposed by?
The theory that obedience to destructive authority occurs because a person does not take responsibility and acts as an ‘agent’ for someone else.
This theory was proposed by Milgram after observing the defense used by Adolf Eichmann during his trial.
What does the term ‘agent’ refer to in the context of obedience?
Someone who acts for or in place of another.
An agent does not take personal responsibility for their actions.
What are the two different ways people operate in social situations according to Milgram?
- Autonomic State
- Agentic State
These states reflect how individuals perceive their responsibility in different contexts.
Characteristics of the Autonomic State.
A state where individuals are aware of the consequences of their actions and make decisions knowing they will be held accountable.
This contrasts with the agentic state.
Define the Agentic State?
A state in which a person carries out orders with little personal responsibility.
Individuals see themselves as under the authority of another.
What is the ‘agentic shift’?
The change from an autonomous (independent) state to the agentic state.
This shift occurs when a person perceives someone else as a figure of authority.
Characteristics of the agentic state?
making them believe their actions are not their fault.
The responsibility is shifted away from them to the authority figure or the victim.
What did Milgram’s participants report during debriefing after the electric shock experiment? (Agentic state)
Many participants felt they were expected to obey the experimenter, despite knowing it was wrong to deliver dangerous shocks.
This highlights the influence of authority on decision-making.
What does the agentic state theory explain?
It explains why individuals obey authority figures.
Who conducted research that supported the agentic state theory?
Blass and Schmitt (2001)
In Blass and Schmitt’s research, who did the students blame for harming Mr. Wallace?
The experimenter
Fill in the blank: The agentic state theory does not explain why some participants in Milgram’s study _______.
did not obey
What does the agentic state not explain regarding holfings study
Did not explain why One nurse did not give the drug prescribed by the doctor, who is higher up in the hierarchy
This means the nurse is an agent
In Rank and Jacobson’s study, how many nurses out of 18 were willing to give the drug?
2 out of 18.
The research of agentic state theory doesn’t explain these findings
They are only agents but they don’t obey
True or False: The agentic state theory fully explains the behavior of all individuals in obedience situations.
(Research method)
False
Holfings study and Rank and Jacobson study doesn’t support this as some nurses disobeyed authority
What incident did Mandel (1998) investigate that refutes the agentic state theory?
German Reserve Police Battalion 101 shooting civilians in Poland.
In the incident involving the German Reserve Police Battalion 101, what choice were the men given?
They could choose other duties instead of shooting, but they chose to shoot on their own accord
What conclusion can be drawn from the actions of the German Reserve Police Battalion 101 regarding the agentic state theory? (Weakness)
It does not explain why individuals chose to obey without direct orders.
List one strength of the agentic state theory.
- It makes sense in explaining obedience to authority.*
Supported by research findings - Study was done where Milgrams experiment was shown to students and they said experimenter was responsible for harming the teacher
List two weaknesses of the agentic state theory.
- It does not explain why some individuals disobey authority.*
- It fails to account for certain historical obedience cases.*
What does ‘legitimate authority’ refer to?
The amount of social power held by a person who gives instructions
What is a consequence of the legitimacy of authority?
Some people are granted the power to punish others
In Milgram’s study, who was the legitimate authority figure?
A scientist
How was destructive authority demonstrated in Milgram’s study?
The experimenter used prods to make participants administer lethal shocks
What is a strength of the legitimate authority explanation?
It explains the functioning of a civilized nation
What real-life event can be explained by the legitimacy of authority theory?
The My Lai massacre where the soldiers were just reported to be following orders
What was the outcome of the My Lai massacre?
504 civilians were killed and only one soldier faced charges
What cultural differences were observed in obedience rates in Milgram’s studies?
- Australia: 16% went to full voltage
- Germany: 85% obedience rate
This shows obedience also depends on upbringing, strengthening legitimacy of authority explanation
What did Milgram’s study demonstrate about obedience to authority figures?
People will obey a legitimate authority figure even if it leads to harm to another person.
Milgram’s study highlighted the extent to which individuals are willing to follow orders from authority figures, even when such orders conflict with their personal morals.
Give an example of a legitimate authority figure who abused their power.
Harold Shipman, a doctor who killed over 200 patients without suspicion.
Shipman’s case illustrates how trust in authority can lead to tragic consequences when the authority figure acts unethically.
What is obedience?
A type of social influence that causes a person to act in response to a direct order from a figure with perceived authority.
What are the two explanations for obedience discussed?
Legitimate authority and agentic state.
What is the ‘authoritarian personality’?
A dispositional explanation of obedience proposed by Adorno, suggesting that certain personality traits lead to higher obedience.
What are some traits of authoritarian personalities?
- Servile towards people of perceived higher status
- Hostile towards people of lower status
- Preoccupied with power
- Inflexible in beliefs and values
- Conformist and conventional
- Likely to categorize people as ‘us’ or ‘them’
- Dogmatic (intolerant of ambiguity)
According to Adorno, how do authoritarian personalities develop?
Through receiving extremely harsh discipline from parents, often involving physical punishment.
What is the relationship between authoritarian personalities and feelings of hostility?
Feelings of hostility are directed towards weaker others who cannot fight back, as individuals fear their parents and cannot express anger towards them.
What is the F scale?
A questionnaire developed by Adorno to measure authoritarian personalities.
What was the sample size in Adorno’s study on authoritarian personalities?
More than 2000 middle-class white Americans.
True or False: Adorno found a relationship between authoritarian personality and scoring high on the F scale.
True. Scoring high on the F scale would generally mean you have an authoritarian personality
Fill in the blank: Dispositional explanations of behavior claim that individuals’ personality characteristics determine their behavior, not _______.
[situational influences in the environment]
What is fascism?
A governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, emphasizing aggressive nationalism and often racism.
What is the authoritarian personality linked to?
Obedience to authority
Measured through the F scale.
Who conducted a follow-up study to support the authoritarian personality?
Elms and Milgram (1966)
They used participants from previous Milgram experiments.
What did Elms and Milgram (1966) measure in their study?
Personality traits using MMPI and authoritarian traits using F scale
Participants also answered open-ended questions about their relationships.
How did obedient participants score on the F scale compared to disobedient participants?
Higher levels of authoritarian traits
Obedient participants scored high on the F scale.
What relationship did obedient participants report regarding their fathers?
Less close and described them in negative terms
This suggests a potential influence of parental relationships on authoritarian traits.
How did obedient participants perceive the authority figure in the study?
As admirable
This perception contrasts with the views of disobedient participants.
True or False: The study by Elms and Milgram found no link between the F scale and obedience.
False
The study provides strong research support for the link between authoritarian personality and obedience.
Fill in the blank: The F scale measures _______.
Authoritarian traits
It is used to assess the authoritarian personality.
What did Miller (1975) observe in support of the authoritarian personality
He found individuals who scored high on the f scale were more likely to obey an order while holding electrical wire and completing a test
This shows that people who score highly will even be willing to harm themselves to obey authority
Which researcher made a similar study to miller (1975) in support of authoritarian personality
Altemeyer (1981)
Why does the authoritarian personality give a limited explanation
Doesn’t explain why majority of population does something for example Germany bc they can’t all have authoritarian personality give
What are the methodical problems of authoritarian personality explanation
All questions on f scale questionnaire and worded in the same direction and it’s easy to get high on the test
They’re all closed questions and have no room for explanation
What are the Explanations of resistance to social influence
Social support and locus of control
What is social support
Resistance to social influence due to an ally supporting their views against the majority
No longer fear being ridiculed allowing them to avoid normative social influence
Less likely to obey orders
How does social support effect conformity
Reduces if there’s someone supporting.
Answer of non conforming doesn’t have to be right but the fact that they’re not conforming to majority enables a person to be free and follow own conscience
How does Asch study support social support in conformity
Conformity drops to 5.5% when there was one correct dissenter in the group
Conformity dropped to 9% when the dissenters answer was incorrect
How does Allen and Levine’s (1971) research support Asch study of social support in conformity
Conformity decreased with one dissenter even if they said they have problems with their vision
Shows you just need need one person who’s view goes against the majority
How does social support effect obedience
Reduced
Milgrams - obedience dropped from 65% to 10% when the participant was joined by a disobedient confederate
Summary of Gamson fireman and Rytina research supporting social support in obedience
Participants asked to take part in group discussion
Put into groups of nine and met fictional consultant from MHRC
Explained doing research on oil company taking legal action against petrol station manager
Said they sack bc his lifestyle was offensive to local community
Manager argued that he had been sacked for speaking on tv about high oil prices
In group discussion to sack manager they were told to argue against him
Results of gamsons study
32/33 groups rebelled in some way during discussion
They didn’t agree
25/33 groups refused to sign
9 groups threatened legal action against MHRC
Shows notion of social support and power of it when resisting obedience
Strengths of gamsons study of social support against obedience
Research to support - Asch one dissenter reduced conformity to 5.5%
Milgram - pp joined by disobedient confederate obedience reduced to 10%
High ecological validity - can be applied to real life
Pp were unaware they were in a study so they couldn’t have had demand characteristics
Weakness of Gamsons study of social support against obedience
Lacks ecological validity
It can only be tested with a limited number of pps - having one dissenter in 100 people won’t work
However some people don’t need social support
Who proposed the idea of locus of control
Julian Rotter (1966)
What is locus of control
Refers to a persons perception of the degree of personal control they have over their behaviour
What is an external locus of control
See their future choices mainly influenced by outside factors such as luck or fate
What is an internal locus of control
Feel a stronger sense of control over their lives
More active seekers of information, rely less on others opinions, more likely to resist pressure
More like to show resistance to social influence
Another link with internal locus and greater resistance
Self confident, more achievement oriented, higher intelligence, less need for social approval
Oliner and Oliner (1988) research supporting Locus of control
Interviewed two groups of non Jewish people who lived through Nazi germany
Compared 406 people who had protected and rescued Jews and 126 people who had not
The group who rescued Jews had internal locus of control
Internal locus - more likely to act
Holland (1967) research to support locus of control
Repeated milgram study and measured internal or external locus of control
37% of internals did not continue to highest shock
23% of external did not continue
Weakness of locus of control
Conflicting research evidence - Twenge 2004 gathered data 40 yrs from 1960-2002 - people have become more resistance to obedience but also show a more external locus of control Internal- people resist more but there’s more external
May lack temporal validity - done in the 1960s - may not even be relevant in todays society
What is minority influence
Minority influence is a type of social influence that encourages individuals to reject established majority norms, leading to the process of conversion where the majority gradually adopts the minority viewpoint.
What is conversion in minority influence
Conversion is the process where a majority gradually adopts a minority viewpoint, accepting the new belief or behavior both publicly and privately, often leading to internalisation.
What type of conformity is most commonly associated with minority influence
Internalisation - usually a new viewpoint rather than compliance
Behavioural characteristics needed for minority influence
Consistency, commitment, flexibility
Why is consistency important in minority influence
Most important characteristic as it leads to others to reassess situation and consider the minorities position seriously
How does consistency impact the majority’s view of the minority
Consistent minority seems confident and unbiased, leading others to question why the minority maintains its stance over time
What was the aim of Moscovici’s (1969) experiment
To test if a consistent minority could influence a majority to give an incorrect answer in a colour perception task
Describe the method used in Moscovici’s experiment
172 female participants, in groups of six, viewed 36 blue skids. Two confederates, in one condition, consistently called all slides green
In another condition they inconsistently called some green and some blue
What were the findings of Moscovici’s experiment?
In the consistent condition, participants agreed 8.2% of the time; in the inconsistent condition, they agreed only 1.25%
showing that consistency increased influence.
Conclusions of Moscovici’s experiments
A consistent minority is 6.95% more effective than an inconsistent minority
Consistency is an important factor in exerting minority influence
What did Wood et al (1994) find in their support research to consistency
Found minorities who were especially consistent in expressing their position were particularly influential influential across 97 studies of minority influence
Why is commitment important in the influence process
Commitment indicates certainty, confidence, and courage, especially since being in the minority often involves greater personal costs than staying with the majority
What is the augmentation principle in the context of commitment
It suggests that if a minority shows commitment by doing something risky, the majority pays more attention to them
How does Xie et al (2011) support the role of commitment in minority influence
Xie discovered a ‘tipping point’ where only about 10% of the minority population is needed to shift majority opinion
According to mugny (1982) why is flexibility important for minorities?
Flexibility is more effective than rigidity in changing majority opinion because minorities often lack power and must negotiate rather than enforce their views
What risk does a minority face if they are too flexible or too rigid?
They risk being seen as weak and inconsistent if too flexible or as dogmatic if too rigid
What was nemeth’s (1986) aim in her research on minority influence?
Nemeth aimed to investigate flexibility as a key characteristic of successful minorities suggesting that consistency alone could be seen as a negative trait
What was the method used in Nemeth’s study on flexibility?
Groups of four participants decided on compensation for a ski-lift accident victim. One confederate argued for low compensation either staying inflexible or compromising with a slightly higher offer
What were the two conditions in Nemeth’s study
1) the minority argued for low compensation and refused to change (inflexible)
2) the minority argued for low compensation but compromised with a slightly higher offer (flexible)
What were the results of Nemeth’s study on flexibility?
In inflexible conditions the majority was more likely to compromises and change their view
What was the conclusion of Nemeth’s research on flexibility
Nemeth concluded that flexibility is crucial for minority influence, and that balancing flexibility with consistency is the most effective strategy for minority
