social influence - obedience Flashcards
what is obedience ?
a form of social influence in which someone follows an order usually given by a person of authority
what is the agentic state ?
when a person no longer feels responsible for their actions since theyre an agent for the authority figure and blame them
what is the agentic shift ?
the change from the autonomous state to the agentic state.
what is a dispositional explanation ?
focuses on personalities effect on obedience
what is the characteristics of an authoritarian personality ?
dismissive of people they see below them but obedient to people they see above them very aware of social hierarchy
what was adornos research ?
researched into authoritarian personality , gave white middle class American males a questionnaire called the F scale or fascist scale
conclusions of Adorno F scale
people higher on the F scale were more aware of their social status and other peoples social status showing the authoritarian personality. they also categorised people into different groups and were prejudice to racial groups.
evaluate Adornos authoritarian personality
- large sample of 2000 people so representative
-research support by milgram and elms who went back and interviewed his og pp and found those who obeyed more rated higher on F scale
-quality of research , due to it being a questionnaire there could be social desirability
what does legitimacy of authority suggest ?
were more likely to obey people we see as an authority figure and higher up in the hierarchy in which we have formed in society. Because we see these people of having authority we give away some of our independence for them to use their authority
what is destructive authority ?
when a person of authority uses their legitimate power to cause harm or manipulate people e.g Hitler , Stalin and the reasercher in milgrams study who used prods
evaluate legitimacy of authority
+ Bickman
+ Milgram
+ cross-cultural research support, for example Milgram study in France = 80% but in Australia was only 16% this shows that in society we form our own hierarchy of authority and different structures.
what are the explanations for obedience ?
agentic state and legitimacy of authority and authoritarian personality
what are the reasons for resisting conformity ?
social support
locus of control
what does social support suggest ?
if people are disobeying authority it encourages others to do the same
what is an ally in social support ?
someone who inspires resistance to conformity
how were allies present in aschs research ?
in his unanimity variable - when the non-conforming confederates were introduced obedience decreased as pp saw them as allies and were encouraged to act freely
evaluate social support
research support : allen and levine - conformity decreased when there was one dissenter in an asch type study. Even if dissenter said they had bad vision (couldnt judge lines) clearly support is important
research support: gamson found higher levels of resistance in their milgramesque study since they were in group. 29/33 groups rebelled. suggesting peer support is linked to resistence
was adornos research dispositional or situational
dispositional
what is locus of control
how much control we have over our own lives
what is external locus of control
believe they have little or no control over their lives passive and accepting usually younger people
what is internal locus of control
ability to make their own decisions take responsibility for their own actions
evaluate locus of control
+ Research support: Holland (1967) found that 37% of internals showed resistance to social influence, where as 23% of externals showed resistance. This increases validity.
- Contradictory research: Twenge et al. (2004) found in a Meta-analysis, that between 1960 and 2002, people have become more resistance to obedience but more external (LOC).
where did Adorno think the authoritarian personality stemmed from?
childhood - he thought that harsh parenting and strict discipline lead to this because the learn loyalty , high standards and severe criticism. Also conditional love where parent only loves based on child’s behaviour. This creates resent and hostility in the child but because they obey their parents they displace these feeling on to another target. This is a psychodynamic explanation.
what is resistance to social influence?
Refers to the ability of people to withstand the social pressure to conform to the majority or to obey authority. This ability to withstand social pressure is influenced by both situational and dispositional factors.
