6 - Obedience: Social-Psychological Factors

Question 1

What are the two social-psychological factors that are considered as explanations for obedience?

Answer 1

• Agentic state

- Legitimacy of authority

Question 2

What is agentic state?

Answer 2

Mental state where an individual feels no personal responsibility for their behaviour, believing they are acting as an ‘agent’ for an authority figure

Question 3

What is the opposite of an agentic state?

Answer 3

Autonomous state

Question 4

What is an autonomous state?

Answer 4

Mental state where an individual feels personal responsibility for their behaviour, believing they are acting due to independent choice

Question 5

How is agentic state an explanation for obedience?

Answer 5

An individual is obedient because they undergo agentic shift (changing from an autonomous state, to an agentic state) and believe they must act as an ‘agent’ for an authority figure

Question 6

What is moral strain?

Answer 6

Feeling of high anxiety from an individual in the agentic state that is acting immorally (but NOT a feeling of responsibility)

Question 7

What is a binding factor?

Answer 7

Aspects of the situation that allow an individual to ignore the ‘moral strain’ and continue being obedient agents for authority

Question 8

Give examples of binding factors (that reduce moral strain)?

Answer 8

• Shifting responsibility to victim (they deserve this)

- Denying damage to victim (they will be okay)

Question 9

Do people feel they can leave the agentic state?

Answer 9

No

Question 10

What caused ppts in Milgram’s study to think they had to act as an agent for the experimenter?

Answer 10

• Given prods
• Paid $4.50 BEFORE
• Didn’t want to ruin Yale’s experiment

Question 11

What is legitimacy of authority?

Answer 11

Concept that individuals are more likely to obey people who have perceived power over them, due to their higher position on the ‘social hierarchy’

Question 12

How is legitimacy of authority an explanation for obedience?

Answer 12

An individual is obedient because they have been raised in a way that encourages submission to the instruction of those higher on the social hierarchy

Question 13

Who do individuals obey most? Why?

Answer 13

People above them in the ‘social hierarchy’

• These people are TRUSTED/QUALIFIED (e.g. doctors)
• These people are ABLE TO PUNISH (e.g. police)

Question 14

Why does society raise individuals to be obedient to legitimate authority/what are the benefits of this?

Answer 14

• Society has order + structure

- Society is safer

Question 15

What are some drawbacks to the legitimacy of authority?

Answer 15

• Occasionally legitimate authority may use their position destructively (e.g. Hitler)
• Arguably some oppression of free will

Question 16

Give 2 positive evaluation points of social-psychological factors (agentic state + legitimacy of authority) as an explanation for obedience

Answer 16

Research support from lab studies + real life crimes
Lab study support…
- Blass + Schmitt (2001)
- Showed film of Milgram’s shock experiment to students + asked them to identify who was responsible for harm to learner
- Most blamed experimenter - he was legitimate authority, ppt was just acting in agentic state
Real life crimes…
- My Lai Massacre (1968 - Vietnam War)
- Soldiers committed great crimes (killing, raping, burning down villages)
- Can be explained by soldiers obeyed the legitimate authority of the US army, whose orders are assumed to be legal

Can explain occasions where there are cultural differences in obedience

• Milgram’s experiment was replicated cross-culturally + there were different findings
• Kilhelm + Mann (1974) - Australia - 16% obedience
• Mantell (1971) - Germany - 85%
• Differences in obedience reflect cultural differences in raising children to obey legitimate authority

Question 17

Give 2 negative evaluation points of social-psychological factors (agentic state + legitimacy of authority) as an explanation for obedience

Answer 17

Doesn’t account for exceptions when individuals don’t obey

• Sometimes individuals don’t obey
• If the only causes of obedience were social-psychological, everyone in the same society should obey to the same extent
• This isn’t the case, so other (dispositional + situational) factors must also have impact
• E.g. Rank + Jacobson (1977) - more realistic nurse study - only 2/18 obeyed, despite legitimate authority

Obedience alibi

• Mandel (1998) argued it shouldn’t be used as obedience alibi
• People must take personal accountability for their actions
• E.g. Eichmann shouldn’t just be able to blame Hitler for everything

Question 18

Who was Eichmann? What is his psychological significance?

Answer 18

• Nazi war criminal
• Claimed in his 1961 trial that he was ‘only obeying orders’
• Sparked Milgram’s interest in obedience
• Eichmann blamed social-psychological factors (agentic state for legitimate authority - Hitler)