Explanations of Obedience

agentic state

obedience occurs as the individual is an agent to external authority

People obey as they shift from acting autonomously to acting as an agent on behalf of someone who has more authority in a social hierarchy

agentic state

this shift occurs when the individual perceived the authority giving figure as being higher in the social hierarchy

Obedience endures due to binding factors minimising the effects of their actions/victim blaming allowing the individual to ignore or minimise the effects of their actions

what does legitimacy to authority say about obedience and why people obey?

Obedience is when people obey those authority figures that have power

People obey these authority figures as they have a legitimate claim to authority as agreed by society

what does legitimacy authority say about how obedience develops and what is an issue with legitimate authority figures?

Obedience developed as we are taught from early childhood who to obey

An issue with this is that it can become destructive powerful leaders can use their legitimate powers to order others to carry out cool/evil behaviours

What is the dispositional explanation for obedience and what is an authoritian personality?

an explanation of human behaviour that highlight the importance of personality

People who are susceptible to obeying people of authority

how does the authoritian personality develop?

• develops during childhood

• parenting styles are strict and expect loyalty and criticism of failings

• parents give conditional love

• build resentment and hostility displace onto people they see as socially inferior

what was the Adorno’s aim and procedure during research into the authoritarian personality?

a- to investigate roots of prejudice mainly antisemitism

Investigated causes of obedience in 2000 white middle class Americans for example of the F scale that shows potential for fascism

Hi F scale score = identified with people they saw as strong and disregarded the weak cognitive styles, strong stereotypes about other groups of people traits of a personality

concluded people who school high on the F scale show traits of authoritation personality and have a tendency to be particular obedient to authority figures