Socio-Psychological factors of Obedience

What two states did Milgram suggest cause obedience?

autonomous and agentic state

Why did Milgram propose the agentic state?

He wanted to explain why people are prepared to go against their morals and do as they're told even if it causes them considerable distress

What is the autonomous state?

we act according to our own conscience and we feel responsible for our actions

What is the agentic state?

we are no longer independent but act according to instructions from someone else

when in this state people justify their actions by saying they were acting that way because they were told to do so

How do people move from the autonomous to the agentic state?

they shift when confronted with an authoritative figure

this is called the agentic shift

What are binding factors?

Aspects of the situation which will allow the person to minimise the damaging effect of their behaviour.

Binding factors = self-justification

What is a legitimate authority?

Authority that is agreed by society e.g police, teachers etc.

Most people agree that these individuals can exert their authority where necessary to allow society to run smoothly. We are socialised from society to respect and recognise legitimate authority

How can a legitimate authority become illegitimate?

When they begin to abuse their power use it for destructive purposes e.g Hitler, Stalin etc.

How does Blass and Schmidt (2001) support the idea of legitimate authority?

- showed video footage of the Milgram experiment to a collection of students and asked them who was to blame for the teacher's behaviour

- most believed the experimenter was to blame

- shows obedience was due to the figure of legitimate authority rather than any other factor

How can the agentic shift be used to explain real life war crimes?

- in the case of the My Lai Massacre, Lt. Calley based his defence around the claim that he was simply following orders

- additionally, many people suggested he may have been used as a scapegoat for the real culprits - the US army

- this shows that he experienced an agentic shift as he acted as an agent for the hierarchal US army who clearly has legitimacy of authority

How can using socio-psychological explanations for reasons of obedience be dangerous and insensitive?

- this theory is often used to explain horrendous war crimes like My Lai and the Holocaust

- while it's important to try and understand factors which could make obedience more likely we must show caution

- it's important not to justify and normalise the behaviour of people who conducted such atrocities

How is the legitimacy of authority explanation useful for explaining cultural differences in obedience?

- for example, when Kilham and Mann replicated the Milgram study in Australia they found only 16% of pps obeyed

- whereas when Mantel, replicated the Milgram experiment in Germany they found obedience levels of 85%

- this fits in with expectations of how these different cultures view authority and how children of these cultures are raised to treat authority in a particular way