Explanations for obedience

What are the explanations for obedience?

Agentic shift and legitimacy of authority
Situational variables
Dispositional explanations (authoritarian personality)

What is the agency theory

Following from his research, Milgram developed a theory as a way of explaining obedience
He argued that people act in either an autonomous state or an agentic state and that we switch between the two

Definition of Agentic state

A mindset that allows people to follow orders from an authority figure, even if those orders conflict with their personal values

What causes the Agentic state

Markers of legitimate theory (things that we are socialised to accept as identifying as authoritative) like uniform, location etc

Definition of authoritarian personality

A collection of traits/dispositions developed from strict/rigid parenting.
Characteristics: obsessed with rank/status, hostility towards parents, obedient to authority, rigid in opinions/beliefs, conventional views/attitudes

Why do people have authoritarian personality?

Harsh parenting-strict discipline, expectations to be completely loyal, high standards, unconditional love for parents even if you do not agree with them.
Therefore these experiences create hostility and despair in the child who displaces these feelings onto the week (scapegoating).

Dispositional explanations

According to authoritarian personality theory obedient people are the result of the psychological disorder. They obey because unconsciously they had harsh parenting

Supporting evidence for dispositional explanations

Milgram's and Elm's experiment (1966) - they conducted an interview with a small sample of obedient participants who had scored highly on the F-Scale (so had more authoritarian traits). This therefore suggests that there are similar characteristics between obedient and authoritarian people.

Conflicting evidence for dispositional explanations

Greenstein's thoughts- stated that it was possible to get a high score just by putting 'agree' as your answers which would invalidate the F-scale.

Other explanations for dispositional explanations

Hyman and Sheatsley findings- they found that the authoritarian personality is more likely to exist among people who are less educated and are of low economic status. Therefore entire social groups/ societies cannot all be accounted for obedience.

Usefulness of dispositional explanations

Has helped future research- developing a standardised scale that measures authoritarian personality traits helps to measure the personality dimension more reliably and validly.

Testability of dispositional explanations

Relies on self report data- people could just change their answers so that everyone likes them so may not reflect on true information.

Situational variables affecting obedience

Proximity
Location
Uniform

Proximity definition

Physical closeness or distance of an authority figure to the person they are giving an order to

Proximity research findings

Teacher could hear the learner but not see him so the obedience rate dropped from 60% to 40%

Proximity effect

Allows people to psychologically distance themselves from the consequences of their actions

Location definition

Place where an order is issued

Location research findings

Conducted in a run down office block rather than prestigious Yale setting so the non scientific location made it easier to not obey
47.5% were fully obedient

Location effect

Prestigious locations like Yale increase obedience due to legitimacy and authority associated with the location

Uniform definition

An authority figure having a symbolic outfit that is symbolic of their authority

Uniform research findings

Wearing uniform makes the authority seem more legitimate
20% were fully obedient

Uniform effect

Encourages obedience due to how uniforms are widely recognised symbols