Explanations Of Obediance- Situaional Explainations Flashcards
(12 cards)
What are the situations explanations
Legitimacy of authority
Agentic state
What is legitimacy of authority
Milgrams suggested that we are more likely to obey someone who has a higher position or higher status in social hierarchy, as we are taught to accept their authority and obey them for any early age.
These indivual as often show visible symbles of authority (such as uniform) these are necessary for a well-functioning society ans we are willing to give up control to people we trust to exercise their authority appropriately.
Problems can arise when legitimacy of authority becomes destructive.
Strength evaluation of legitimacy fo authority
P- real life examples
E- a psychologist in he Vietnam war, 500 unarmed civilians were killed by American soldiers. Officers who have uniforms, badges and awards gave out orders to the soldiers that they had to follow due to them having a higher status in authority.
E- supports the theory that if they have more authority then they are more likely to obey.
P- explain cultural differences
E- psychologist found that only 16% of female Australian participants went all the way up to 450volts whereas German particpants had on obedience of 85%.
E- this shows how different cultures teach different idea about authority.
Limitaion of legitimacy of authority
P - contradictory research
E- s psychologist foind that 16/28 nurses disobeyed orders from a doctor and they were supposed to administer an excessive drug dosage to a patient
E- showing that we do have the option to go against authority figures if its going to harm someone else
Whats the agentic state
Milgrams argued that people can operate in one of 2 ways when faced with a social situation
1. They can act autonomously ( they choose their behaviour)
2. Enter the agentic state (they carry out orders from the authority figure).
Going from the autonomous state to the agentic state, the indivual undergo the ‘agentic state’.
In the agentic state an indivual can experience ‘moral strain’ this swine they dont feel responsible for their actions and could put the blame onto the authority figure. (They can still feel guilty). They can also use ‘binding factors’ to ignore to minimise the damage caused by our obedience.
Strength evaluation for the agentic state
P- supporting research
E- in milgrams study, some participants asked “who is responsible for the harm of Mr Wallace?” And the experimenter replied into “i am”, and the participants then continues.
E- this shows that they had moral strain, by putting the blame to the authority figure.
Limitation for the agentic state
P- contradictory research
E- 35% particpants did resist obedience in milgrams study even with the experimenter saying they take full responsibility.
E- shows that they dont have to follow authority figures
Whats the dispositional explaination
Authoritative personality
Whats the authoritarian personality
This was idenfied by Adorno and suggested that those who had extreme respect for authority are more likely to be obedient.
He conducted a study where he used 2000 particpants using a number of questionnaires (one being the f-scale, which measures fascist tendencies which is thought to be the core of authoritarian personality)
Adorno found that those whi scores highly on the f scale identified with ‘strong’ people and showed disrespected towards the ‘weak’.
Adorno also believed that individuals with authoritarian personality were more obedient to authority figures
How is authoritarian personality developed
Adorno suggested that it was developed during traumatic childhood and harsh strict parenting. This personality developed because they thought love of their parents was dependent on how they behaved.
He suggested that these individuals displayed there fear onto others who are perceived weaker and this is known as shapegoating.
Strength evaluation for authoritarian personality
P- supporting research
E- milgram conducted post-study interviews with particpnats who were fully obedient, to see if there was a link to high obedience and authoritarian personality. Results showed that those who were fully obedient, scored higher on the f scale.
E- showing a positive correlation
HOWEVER, upon closer research the participants that were obedient, had a number of characteristics that were unusual for people with authoritarian personality to have, such as not having unusual levels of punishment in their childhoods.
P- helps research into identifying individual differences
E-it allows research to be developed into why people are more likely to obey and its impaorant to identify that obedience isn’t solely determines by situational factors and can be linked to the indivuals personality
E- offers a more comprehensive understanding
Limiation evaluation of authoritarian personality
P- other variable might play a role
E- Milgrams found that those that were more obedient, did score higher on the f scale leading to authoritarian personality, showing a positive correlation. However there is no evidence to suggest that authoritarian personality actually causes obedience. There could be other possible factors, such as the strict parenting can lead to both high levels of this personality and obedience.
E- could be simplifying
