Explanations for obedience

explanations for obedience

1. Situational explanation- Agentic state

2. Situational explanation- Legitimacy of Authority

3. Dispositional explanation- Authoritarian personality

Agentic state

Individual no longer sees themselves as acting independently, but merely following orders from an authority figure, surrender our conscience and become an instrument for authority (Milgram’s experiment)

Autonomous state: Opposite of Agentic state where you have a decision and direct responsibility for your actions

Moral strain: Feeling uncomfortable/ distressed as a consequence of going against your own consciousness and doing something you know is wrong, coped with y keeping certain thoughts/feelings out of conscious/denial

Legitimacy of Authority

Socialisation: Taught by teachers and parents to respect those in authority by trusting they have the power to punish us

Social hierarchy: Sanctions and legitimise key authority figures and readily accept others as legitimate authority

Research +

• A strength of the Agentic State explanation for why people conform is that there is research to support the explanation

• Milgram found that many of his participants said they wanted to stop but seemed powerless to do so due to the binding factors they felt

• Milgram noticed that individuals used multiple strategies to alleviate the moral strain they were feeling as a consequence of their actions, such as shifting responsibility to the victim, thus more then likely accounting for the 65% who reached the maximum 450v of shocks

• This implies that there is research to support that people obey as they are in an agentic state rather than an autonomous state

Alternative -

• However a limitation of agentic state and legitimate authority is they do not offer a full explanation as to why people obey authority as it fails to account for dispositional factors

• In Bickman’s study even though 76 obeyed the person dressed as a guard, 30% still obeyed the person dressed as a pedestrian, this suggests that situational factors are not the only factor that affects obedience as some participants were still obedient even if the uniform is absent

• Therefore, dispositional factors such as authoritarian personality could be a better alternative as it takes into account personality factors that affect obedience regardless of the situation they are in

• This highlights that the agentic state and legitimate authority are limited as they cannot explain all obedience as we should consider alternative explanations when trying to explain reasons why people obey

Theory -

• One theoretical problem with the agentic state and legitimacy of authority explanations is that it leads to the ‘obedience alibi’

• There is some argument that by explaining the reasons for Nazi behaviour we are giving them an excuse for the atrocities that occurred in the holocaust and stops war criminals facing up to what they have done

• This implies that all behaviour can be reduced down to the lessening of a feeling of guilt for one’s own actions

• This suggests that the agentic state diffuses responsibility and provides an alternative explanation for why people obey

Applications +

• One strength is the practical applications of this explanation

• Just being aware that we are capable of obeying in this way could help us explain (and prevent) horrific actions such as Nazi Germany, My Lai massacre or Abu Ghraib)

• It can help us understand and prevent actions of real world crime of obedience because we can better grasp the meaning of the power hierarchy within institutions where status of legitimate authority implies a greater power to punish

• This implies that the explanation has been useful to society because it can be used as a preventative measure against legitimate assumptions of hierarchical power within real life situations (e.g military, police, uniform)

Authoritarian personality

1. Might is right

2. Upbringing

3. Personality traits

4. The F scale

Might is RIght

Adorno (1950)- Individuals with insecurities that led them to be hostile to non-conventional people and belief that there needs to be someone tough in charge

belief leads them to e highly obedient to authority figures

Upbringing

If someone is raised by strict and distinct parents that punish them for minor reasons, or have rigid and absolute ideologies and values about society

learns from early childhood to obey the people who have more power and privileges

Personality traits

• have respect for authority figures and submissive attitudes towards authority

• rigid beliefs in conventional values

• general hostility towards other groups and races

• Intolerance of ambiguity

The F scale

Adorno developed the F scale that measures fascism, 30 questions measuring dimensions of personality

Conventionalism- Keep up traditional values

Authoritarian submission- Submit to authority figures with ease

Authoritarian Aggression- aggression towards those they view as different

Anti intraception- disliking subjectivity and creativity

Superstition and Stereotyping- rigid thinking and belief in fate/higher powers

Power and Toughness- belief in strong and weak

Destructiveness and cynicism- believe people aren’t good or rational

Projectivity of unconscious impulses

Sex- concerned about modern sexual practices

Research +

• A strength of the authoritarian personality explanation for why people obey is that there is research to support the explanation

• Elms and Milgram found when they interviewed a small sample of people who had participated in the original obedience study had been fully obedient, these 20 obedient PPs scored significantly higher on the overall F scale that a comparison group of 20 disobedient PPs

• This suggests that obedience and the Dispositional explanation of an authoritarian personality correlates as they scored higher on the fascism scale then those who disobey

• This implies that ‘obedient people’ may well show similar characteristics to people who have an authoritarian personality

Alternative -

• The authoritarian personality as an explanation for obedience is limited to an extent as there are alternative theories

• The situational explanation of the Agentic State could be considered a better explanation for why people obey as it takes into account situational variables

• In Milgram’s study situational variables play an important role in whether or not an individual is more prone to being in an agentic state for example the scientists being in another room or in close proximity changing the amount of responsibility someone takes for their actions

• Suggesting that their might be a better explanation as to why people change behaviour in different situations regarding obedience

Theory -

• One problem with authoritarian personality as an explanation for obedience is that there is a problem with cause and effect

• Middendrop and Meloen found that less educated are consistently more authoritarian and obedient demonstrating that having an authoritarian personality doesn’t necessary cause obedience but rather a lack of education causing a likely hood to be obedient

• This suggests that there are other situational and individual factors that affects someone’s level of obedience

• Overall, this presents that there is a correlation between an authoritarian personality and obedience but it isn’t the cause of it

Applications +

• One strength is the practical applications of this explanation

• This explanation can be used to explain why only certain personality types are prone to obeying orders

• This explains why some individuals revert back to their upbringing as to why the obey, like nazi soldiers

• Therefore this explanation can be used to explain and prevent atrocities associated with mindless obedience