Social Influence: social-psychological factors Flashcards
what’s the agentic state?
a mental state where we feel no personal responsibility for our behaviour beacuse we believe ourselves to be acting for an authority figure as their agent. this frees us from the demands of our consciences and allows us to obey even destructive authority figures.
what’s the autonomous state?
the opposite of agentic state, to be free or independent. they are free to behave according to their own principles and feel a sense of responsibility for their own actions.
what’s the agentic shift?
the shift from autonomy and agency. it occurs when a person perceives someone else as a figure of authority. this person has a greater power because of their positition in the social hierarchy.
what are binding factors?
this is why individual’s remain in the agentic state. bindings factors are aspects of the situation that allow the person to ignore the damaging effects of their behaviour and reducing the ‘moral stain’.
what’s legitimacy of authority?
it suggests we are more likely to obey people who we perceive to have authority over us. this authority is justified by the individual’s position of power within a social hierarchy.
what’s a consequence of legitimacy of authority?
some people may take their power for granted to punish others. we are willing to give up some independence and to hand control of our behaviour over to people we trust to exercise their authority appropriately.
what’s destructive authority?
powerful leaders can use their legitimate powers for destructive purposes. it’s very clear in Milgram’s study where the experimenter uses prods to order participants to behave the way they did.
what’s research support for agentic state? (A03)
Blass + Schmitt showed a film of Milgram’s study to students and asked them to identify who they felt was responsible for the harm. the students blamed the experimenter rather than the participant. they also said this responsibility was due to the legitimate authority ( as experimenter is top of the social hierarchy) and expert authority (because he’s a scientist). they recognised legitimate authority was the cause of obedience.
how’s the agentic state a limited explanation? (A03)
it doesn’t explain many research findings. it doesn’t explain why some participants didn’t obey or explain the findings of Hofling’s study. the agentic state predicts the nurses handed over responsibility to the doctor as they should’ve shown levels of anxiety as they understand their role in a destructive process, but this wasn’t the case. therefore the agentic state only accounts for some situations.
what’s the cultural difference of legitimacy of authority? (A03)
many studies show countries differ in the degree to which people obey. Kilham + Mann replicated Milgram’s study in Australia and found 16% went to the top of the voltage scale. Mantell found in Germany 85% went to the top. this shows that in some cultures, authority is more likely to be accepted as legitimate and entitled to demand obedience.
