Obedience: Situational Explanations

What is the first situational explanation for obedience?

Agentic state

What is a simple definition of the agentic state?

Acting on behalf of another person

What did Milgram propose about obedience to destructive authority?

Occurs because a person becomes an agent

What does becoming an agent mean?

Someone who acts for or in place of someone else

What happens to a person in an agentic state?

They feel no personal responsibility for their actions

What is a simple definition of autonomous state?

Not being an agent

How would someone in an autonomous state behave?

According to their principles

Will feel responsible for their actions

What is the shift from the autonomous state to the agentic state called?

Agentic shift

When did Milgram suggest the agentic shift occurs?

When we percieve someone else as an authority figure due to their position in the social hierarchy

What are binding factors?

Aspects of a situation which allows the person to minimise/ignore the damaging effect of their behaviour to reduce the moral strain they feel

What are some strategies Milgram proposed a person might use to reduce their moral strain? x2

Shifting the responsibility to the victim

Denying the damage they’re doing to the victims

What is the second situational explanation for obedience?

Legitimacy of authority

We obey people ___ ___ _ __ _____?

further up a social hierarchy

How are most societies structured?

Hierarchically

Why is the power that authorities have llegtiimate?

Has been agreed by society

Why do most of us accept that authorities should exercise social power over us?

In order to allow society to function smoothly

What do people with legitimate authority have the power to do?

Punish other

When do we learn to accept authority?

During childhood

What have some leaders done with their legiitmate authorty? Give an example of a leader who has done this

Used it destructively

Have ordered ppl to behave in cruel and dangerous ways

Hitler

A03 Strength: Agentic state explanation has research support

Most of Milgram’s pps asked the experimenter who would be responsible if the learner was harmed

When the experiment said he would be responsible the pps went through the procedure without objecting

Pps act more easily as an agent when they believe they’re not responsible for their behaviour

A03 Limitation: Agentic shift doesn’t explain many research findings

Psychologists found that most nurses disobeyed a doctors order to give an excessive drug dose

Doctor was an authority figure - nurses remained autonomous - same is true for some of Milgram’s pps

Agentic shift can only explain obedience in some situations

A03 Strength: Legitimacy can explain cultural differences

Research shows that countries differ in obedience to authority

Only 16% of Australian women obeyed in a study compared to 85% of German pps

Authority is more likely seen as legitimate in some cultures, reflecting upbringing

A03 Limitation: Legitimacy cannot explain all (dis)obedience

Ppl may disobey even if they accept the legitimacy of the hierarchal authority structre

E.g some of Milgram’s pps were disobedient

suggests that innate tendencies towards (dis)obedience may be more important that legitimacy of authority