Explanations for obedience - Legitimate Authority

how are most societies structured ?

in hierarchies

what is legitimate authority ?

• agreed authority by society

• they can exercise social power over others because it allows society to function

what is a consequence of legitimate authority ?

• have the power to punish

• authorities like police have power to punish wrongdoers

• willing to give up some independence and control of behaviour onto those authorities

when do we generally accept legitimate authority ?

learnt at childhood from caregivers , teacher etc

when does legitimate authority have problems ?

when it becomes destructive

give examples of destructive authority

powerful leaders like Hitler or Stalin used authority for destructive purposes ordering danger and harm

when was destructive authority seen in Milgram’s study ?

when ‘experimenter’ used prods to order participants to continue that went against moral conscience

how has Milgrams study been used to explain My Lai Massacre ?

• during Vietnam war 1968

• American soldiers killed 500+ innocent civilians

• destroyed entirely

• Lt Calley was charged and found guilty

• defence said that he was doing his duty by following orders

what is a strength of the legitimacy of authority explanation ?

• accounts cultural differences in obedience

• Kilham and Mann (1974) found only 16 % of Australian women went to 450V

• However Mantell (1971) found that 85% of Germans went to 450V

• shows differences in cultures acceptance of authorities and expectation of entitlement to demand obedience

• reflects variation of societal structures and how upbringing of children impacts obedience

what is a weakness of the explanation ?

cant explain all instances of obedience even in clear societal hierarchy

Rank and Jacobson nurses were mostly disobedient when able to seek support despite working in hierarchical environment

Milgram’s participants also were disobedient in some cases despite figure of authority present

suggest tendency to obey is based on dispositional factors that fluctuate depending on the individual

innate instincts to obey or not has greater influence on behaviour than legitimate authority