Social influence: obedience Flashcards
Obedience
a form of social influence in which a person yields to explicit instructions or orders from an authority figure.
Cognitive dissonance
an unpleasant feeling of anxiety created by simultaneously holding two contradictory ideas
Milgram paradigm
experimental procedure devised by Milgram for measuring obedience rates
Autonomous State
where individuals are seen as personally responsible - free-will
Agentic state
when we obey an order and are therefore not seen as responsible
Legitimacy of authority
the degree to which individuals are seen as justified in having power over others
Deindividuation
a state in which individuals have lower self-awareness and a weaker sense of personal responsibility for their actions.
a results of relative anonymity due to being in a crowd.
Authoritarian personality
a person who holds rigid beliefs, is intolerant of ambiguity, submissive to authority and hostile to those of lower social status, due to their strict upbringing.
Authoritarian parenting
strict, lots of punishment and conditional love that is only given to the child when they meet parental expectations
Dispositional explanation
the perception of behaviour as caused by internal characteristics e.g. personality
Situational variables affecting obedience
Proximity - closer to consequences, less likely to obey. closer to authority figure, more likely to obey.
Location - can change the legitimacy of authority e.g. institutional setting (school) can increase obedience
Uniform - can change the legitimacy of authority- police uniform , more obedience.
Dispositional explanation affecting obedience
an internal explanation
upbringing and personality affect obedience
authoritarian personality- 1941 Fromm, then developed by Adorno 1950
