Social Psychological Factors Flashcards
Agentic state
Where we feel no personal responsibility for our behaviour because we believe ourselves to be acting for an authority figure
Autonomous state
Being independent and free to behave according to their own principles (opposite to agentic)
Legitimacy of authority
The degree to which individuals are seen as justified in having power over others
What is the shift from autonomy to agency called?
Agentic shift
Binding factors
Aspects of the situation that allow a person to minimise or ignore the damaging effect of their behaviour and reduce the moral strain they are feeling
Legitimacy/destructive authority
- most societies structured in a hierarchical way with certain positions in authority and the authority they have is legitimate in the sense it is agreed by society (parents,teachers,police)
- we trust they use their authority appropriately however some powerful leaders use their powers for destructive purposes
- seen in milgrams study when the experimenter used prods as participants went against their consciences
Strength - RESEARCH SUPPORT
P - research support in explaining milgrams high obedience rates
E - blass and Schmitt asked students to watch original footage and suggest who was responsible for the harm caused to the learner, they named the experimenter
I&D - explanations of obedience adopt a nomothetic approach as they attempt to provide general principles relating to human behaviour when people are observed responding to the order of a legitimate authority figure
C - this suggests the experimenter was at the top of the social hierarchy and therefore had legitimate authority over the situation
Strength - REAL LIFE APPLICATION
P - agentic state and legitimacy of authority theories can help to explain how obedience can lead to real life war crimes
E- kelman and Hamilton argue the my lai massacre can be understood in terms of the power hierarchy of the us army. The agentic state theory is shown when the soldiers said they were simply obeying orders from their generals and shifted responsibility for their actions onto them.
C - shows that both theories have practical applications. These explanations could help us understand how to prevent such crimes in the future by educating people to challenge authority rather than obeying mindlessly.
Limitation - CULTURAL DIFFERENCES
P - legitimate authority figures may differ culturally
E - Kilman and Mann replicated milgrams study in Australia - only 16% of participants shocked the learner at max voltage level. Whereas in Germany 85% of participants continued to the max voltage.
C - shows different societies follow different hierarchical structures as children may be socialised differently to be more/less obedient towards legitimate authority figures specific to culture.
Strength - RELIABILITY
P - milgrams research has high reliability
E - milgrams methodological approach to changing one variable at a time has high reliability
I&D - however, his original sample shows beta bias as his research minimises differences between men and women in relation to conclusions drawn regarding to obedience to authority
C - all procedures were controlled and had standardised methods
