Y12 Social Influence: Explanations of Obedience - Agentic state and legitimacy of authority- JA

Question 1

What is meant by legitimacy?

Answer 1

Whether we accept something to be true

Question 2

What is meant by Legitmacy of authority?

Answer 2

whether we accept the power and status of authority figures to be true

Question 3

What is an authority figure?

Answer 3

someone we believe/perceive to have power

Question 4

Give an example of an authority figure

Answer 4

parent, teacher, police officers

Question 5

Who determines the power and status of authority figures?

Answer 5

Society

Question 6

What does society determine in relation to authority figures?

Answer 6

their power and status

Question 7

When we see someone as being a legitimate authority figure what do we accept?

Answer 7

Their credentials and believe they know what they are doing

Question 8

What is ingrained in us from an early age when in the presence of an authority figure?

Answer 8

To Obey

Question 9

How do we know we need to obey authority figure?

Answer 9

it is ingrained in us from an early age.

Question 10

What is ingrained in us from an early age?

Answer 10

To obey authority figures.

Question 11

How do we know we are in the presence of an authority figure?

Answer 11

If the authority figure is wearing a uniform or is located in a prestigious location

Question 12

What can affect the legitimacy of an authority figure?

Answer 12

whether they are wearing a uniform and the location they are in

Question 13

When we change the location or the uniform of the authority figure, why does our perception of authority change?

Answer 13

location and uniform act as a visual cue for authority, we may no longer see them as having power and status if they are not wearing uniform or they are not in a prestigious location.

Question 14

What is meant by agentic state?

Answer 14

a state of mind where we remove responsibility from our selves to an authority figure

Question 15

What is meant by being ‘an agent of others’?

Answer 15

you act on behalf of an authority figure

Question 16

What do we call the state in which we believe we are responsible for our own actions?

Answer 16

Autonomous state

Question 17

What is meant by an autonomous state?

Answer 17

where we believe we are responsible for our own actions

Question 18

What do we call the process of moving from an autonomous state to an agentic state?

Answer 18

agentic shift

Question 19

What is an agentic shift?

Answer 19

Where we move from our autonomous state to an agentic state

Question 20

What is a famous example of agentic state?

Answer 20

Nazi Soldiers in World War 2

Question 21

When does agentic shift occur?

Answer 21

when someone perceives somebody as an authority figure

Question 22

agentic state: What determines whether we see someone as being an authority figure?

Answer 22

seeing if they have a higher position in a social hierarchy

Question 23

When responsibility is passed to the authority figure, what does this remove from the individual?

Answer 23

they no longer feel guilty

Question 24

Why do people no longer feel guilty when they act on the behalf of an authority figure?

Answer 24

They see themselves as carrying out the wishes of someone more knowledgeable

Question 25

Out of autonomous state and agentic state, which one is more likely to obey?

Answer 25

agentic state

Question 26

If the legitimacy of authority is affected, what happens to the levels of obedience?

Answer 26

it reduces the level of obedience

Question 27

If we perceive the authority figure as being legitimate, are we less likely or more likely to obey?

Answer 27

More likely to obey

Question 28

We are more likely to obey if the authority figure is perceived as…?

Answer 28

legitimate

Question 29

The more legitimate a person perceives the authority figure to be, the more likely the are to shift from an _________________ state to an __________________ state?

Answer 29

autonomous state to an agentic state

Question 30

We are more likely to shift from an autonomous state to an agentic state if the authority figure is perceived to be?

Answer 30

Legitimate

Question 31

AO3: Research to support an agentic state as an explanation of obedience was seen in Milgram’s obedience study. Why? What did Milgram’s participants ask the researcher?

Answer 31

‘who is responsible if the learner is harmed?’

Question 32

AO3: In Milgram’s original research participants asked the experimenter ‘who is responsible if the learner is harmed’? Which explanation of obedience does this support?

Answer 32

Agentic state

Question 33

AO3: In Milgram’s original research participants asked the experimenter ‘who is responsible if the learner is harmed’? Why does this support agentic state?

Answer 33

Participants obeyed the experimenter when they no longer believed they were responsible for their own actions (they were in an agentic state).

Question 34

AO3: Hofling’s research on hospital nurses can be used as research to support or contradict legitimacy of authority as an explanation of obedience?

Answer 34

Research to support

Question 35

Whose research conducted on nurses supports legitimacy of authority as an explanation of obedience?

Answer 35

Hofling’s

Question 36

Hofling’s research conducted on nurses supports which explanation of obedience?

Answer 36

Legitimacy of authority

Question 37

AO3: Why did 21 out of 22 nurses agree to give a dangerous dose of medication to patients when given orders from a doctor over the phone?

Answer 37

They perceived the doctor as having more legitimate authority than them and therefore obeyed the order.

Question 38

AO3: How many of the 22 nurses agreed to give a dangerous dose of medication to patients when instructed to by a doctor over the phone?

Answer 38

21

Question 39

AO3: What did 21 out of 22 nurses agree to do in Hofling’s research when given direct orders from a doctor over the phone?

Answer 39

Administer a dangerous dose of medication

Question 40

AO3: Can Hofling’s research also support agentic state as an explanation of obedience?

Answer 40

Yes

Question 41

AO3: Why does Hofling’s research also support agentic state as an explanation of obedience?

Answer 41

The nurses may been in an agentic state and may have felt that the doctor was responsible as the authority figure and so obeyed the order to administer the deadly dose of medication.

Question 42

AO3: The nurses may have felt that the doctor was responsible as the authority figure for their actions of administering a dangerous dose of medication. Which explanation of obedience would this support?

Answer 42

Agentic state