Explanations for Obedience: Situational and Dispositional Factors

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering situational explanations (agentic state, legitimacy of authority) and dispositional explanations (authoritarian personality, F-scale evaluation) for obedience.

Agentic state

A mental state where an individual feels they are acting on behalf of an authority figure and, therefore, feels no personal responsibility for their actions, considering themselves free from conscience.

Autonomous state

A state in which an individual is free to behave according to their own principles and feels a direct sense of personal responsibility for their actions.

Agentic shift

The transition from an autonomous state to an agentic state, occurring when an individual perceives someone else as a figure of authority due to their position within a social hierarchy.

Moral strain

The distress and anxiety experienced by individuals when they feel powerless to disobey an authority figure despite being ordered to carry out something they perceive as wrong.

Binding factors

Aspects of a situation that allow an individual to ignore or minimize the damaging effects of their behaviour (such as victim blaming or denying harm), thereby reducing moral strain and keeping them in an agentic state.

Absent experimenter condition

A variation of Milgram's study where orders were delivered via telephone, causing obedience rates to drop to $20.5\%$ as participants shifted back into an autonomous state.

Blass and Schmitt (2001)

A study providing direct support for agency theory in which students viewed footage of Milgram's experiment and attributed responsibility for harm done to Mr Wallace to the experimenter rather than the participant.

'Obedience alibi'

A concept described by Mandel (1998) criticizing agency theory for offering an excuse to Holocaust perpetrators by suggesting they were 'only following orders', thereby deflecting blame away from them onto higher-ranking Nazi officers.

German Reserve Police Battalion 101

A historical case demonstrating a lack of practical application for agency theory, in which officers obeyed orders to shoot civilians in Poland despite explicitly being offered alternative duties if they preferred not to shoot.

Legitimacy of authority

An explanation of obedience proposing that individuals are more likely to obey those whose power is seen as justified and socially accepted based on their hierarchical position in society.

Cross-cultural differences in obedience (Legitimacy of Authority)

Cross-cultural replications showing that obedience to $450\text{ volts}$ varied widely—$16\%$ among Australian women compared to $85\%$ among German participants—demonstrating that societies structure and perceive authority differently.

Conventionalism

A primary trait of the authoritarian personality defined as the rigid adherence to conventional, middle-class values.

Authoritarian submission

A primary trait of the authoritarian personality defined as a submissive, uncritical attitude towards idealized moral authorities of the ingroup.

Authoritarian aggression

A primary trait of the authoritarian personality characterized by the tendency to be on the lookout for, condemn, reject, and punish people who violate conventional values.

Milgram and Elms (follow-up study)

A study of $40$ participants ($20$ obedient participants who reached $450\text{V}$ and $20$ defiant participants) finding that obedient participants had higher F-scale scores and admired the experimenter more, establishing a link between obedience and authoritarianism.

Correlational limitation of Adorno's research

The methodological limitation that although Adorno identified a strong correlation between harsh parenting and an authoritarian personality, correlation does not establish causation.

Acquiescence bias (F-scale)

A methodological issue where all items on the F-scale are worded in the same direction, meaning respondents can achieve a high authoritarian score simply by agreeing or ticking the same line of boxes.

Social desirability bias (F-scale)

The tendency for respondents completing the F-scale to give answers expected by society rather than honest responses, in order to fit in or avoid embarrassment.

Political bias limitation (F-scale)

A theoretical limitation noting that the F-scale measures right-wing authoritarian attitudes while ignoring extreme left-wing views, which can be equally rigid and intolerant of opposing perspectives.