Obedience Flashcards
(29 cards)
What is obdeience
when we follow instructions of an authority figure
what is the autonomous state
when we are responsible for our own behaviour
what is the agentic state
when we act as agent to authroity and pass over the responsibility to them
what are binding factors
aspects of a situatiom that allow a person to ignore the damaging affercts of their behaviour to reduce moral strain.
example- shifting responsibility to a victim
what is the agentic shift
going from the autonomous state to the agentic state, carry out orders without thinking as they belive authority to be responsible
Strength for agentic state
supporting evidence from Milgrams study
in his original study some participants experienced moral strain when deciding to obey, laughing fits and 3 participants having seizures
however, those participants who did not obey did not experience this as they were in the autonomous state
this supports agentic state as although people may feel uncomfritbale obeying, they will do so when in the magnetic state
Weakness of agentic state
describes rather than explain
the theroy states people obey as they are agents to authority
it does not say how the magnetic shift takes place and what processes are involved or how it can be measured
harder to carry out research to test this theory, awakening its validity
other explanations
what is legitimate authority
this is when we obey people at the top of the hierarchy as we see them as legitimate and they hold authority over the rest of us.
authority can be legitimate through their uniform
factors that make authority legitimate
- obey people at the top of the hierarchy
- they have legitimacy through society and we allow them to exercise their power over other to allow society to run smoothly
- we hand control over behaviour to authority due to our trust and upbringing
consequences of legitimate authority
- some people are granted the power to punish others
- we give up some of our independence to people we trust to exercise their authority appropriately
Strength of legitimate authority
research evidence to support - Tarnow, aviation accidence
studied data where a black box flight recorder was available and where flight crew actions contributed in the crash
excessive dependence on the captain’s authority and expertise
one officer claiming although he noticed that captain taking a risk approach, he said nothing and assumed the captain knew what he was doing
safety board concluded errors in 19 of 37 accidents investigated
Weakness of legitimate authority
other explanations - foot in the door technique
gradual commitment suggests that once we obey an authority figure once to a small harmless request
we then find it more difficult to refuse to carry out more serious escalating requests
we cannot assume that having a legitimate authority figure in the only reason that people obey
what is authoritarian personality?
it is formed in childhood as a result of harsh parenting which creates hostility and anger in a child which they displace on to weaker individuals in a process called scapegoating
F-scale
Traits of AP
- exaggerated respects for authority
- express contempt for people of an inferior status
- conventional attitudes towards race and gender
Aim of Theodor Adorno study on AP
to understand the anti-semitism of the holocaust and to see whether obedience is a psychological disorder caused by the personality of an individual
Procedure of Adorno study
more than 2000 white middle class americans were study using an f-scale, which investigated the unconscious attitude towards racial groups
Adorno findings
P’s who scored highly on the f-scale identified with strong individuals and were contemptuous of the weak
showed excessive respect to those of higher status
strong correlation between authrortarianism and prejudice
Adorno conclusions
people with AP tend to be especially obedient to authority
they are inflexible in their outlook and believe we need strong leaders
Strenght of authoritarian personality
supporting evidence in Milgrams study
found that ibedient participants scored highly on the f-scale than disobedient participants.
further study found obedient participants reported being less close to their fathers in childhood compared to disobedient participants
supporting AP as those with characteristics known to cause AP were more likely to obey to authority
weakness of AP
methodology- cause and effect
it does not show cause and effect
Adorno cannot claim that harsh parenting caused the development of an authoritarian personality
therefore lacks internal validity as it may not have been testing what he thought it was
further weakness of methodology
questionnaires are prone to demand characteristics and this can further reduce the internal validity
Adornos findings may not be accurate so AP may not be a good explnantion for obedience
what are the key factors needed for minority to be successful
consistency
flexibility
commitment
Give a strength of minority influence
supporting research- lab experiment- Moscovici
asked p’s if slide was blue or green
4 participants and 2 confederates
if 2 conferderates consistently said the slides were green 32% agreed at least once
the consistent minority of 2 infleucneced the majority of 4
which shows that consistency is involved in convincing a minority to become a majority
lab experiment- high control increases internal validity
Give a weakness of minority infleuence
Moscovici lab experiment- low ecological validity
not in natural environment or carrying to natural task
in everyday life a consistent minority might not be able to influence the majority
another weakness is the idea of in groups and out groups
people are more likely to move towards their in group
as well as being consistent, flexible and committed we need to share some kind of membership with the majority
definition of minority influence
where a minority of pewople persuade others to adapt their beliefs, attitudes and behaviours.
leads to internalisation of views in which private attitudes are changed as well as public
