LOA Flashcards
Supporting research-
M original laboratory experiment involved using a confederate who played the role of the Experimenter. In order to create a sense of legitimacy, the Experimenter wore a white lab coat which signalled status and authority to the real participants. Obedience was high (65%) which suggest that the perceived legitimacy of the Experimenter had an effect on the real participant’s obedience levels. To further support this, Bickman (1974) carried out a field experiment in New York in which he asked passers-by to complete tasks such as picking up rubbish or lending money to a stranger for a parking meter. In one condition, when the experimenter was dressed as a
security guard, 82% of participants obeyed the request to lend money, due to the legitimacy the uniform portrayed. In another condition, the experimenter wore normal clothes and 36% obeyed the request. Demonstrating how important the uniform can be in changing
obedience rates. Therefore, obedience is likely to increase if the person giving the orders is perceived to have legitimate authority.
Does not provide a complete explanation of why we obey
One limitation of agentic state
and legitimacy of authority as explanations of obedience is that they do not consider other factors which can influence obedience levels. There are also dispositional factors that can influence obedience levels, such as the individual having specific authoritarian traits. In addition to this, situational variables such as proximity can also explain why people obey authority figures. This is a limitation as the situational explanations of obedience fail to
acknowledge the complexity of factors affecting obedience such as an individual’s personality. (NOTE this can be used to evaluate agentic state and legitimacy of authority
