Obedience Questions Flashcards
(4 cards)
outline what is meant by the agentic state as an explanation for obedience
a mental state where we feel no responsibility for example we will obey the authority figure so much even if it goes against our moral beliefs
its the opposite of autonomous state
Describe 2 ethical issues that can be illustrated by Milgrams research
Deception
milgram deceived the ppts in believing they had an equal chance of being a teacher/learner
Protection from Harm – Many participants experienced severe psychological distress, showing signs of anxiety, sweating, and trembling as they believed they were harming another person. While Milgram conducted a debriefing and follow-ups, the emotional strain could have had long-term effects.
choose one of the ethical issues from the previous answer and explain a way of dealing with it
after deceiving the ppt you can debrief with the ppt and explain why it was important to decieve them, aswell as reassuring them
Discuss the authoritarian personality as an explanation for obedience (8 marks)
the authoritain personality was devloped by Adorno and the idea was that its a personality in which people percieve someone to be an authoritian figure in a social hierachy, higher status than them. people tend to be in this statue due to flashbacks (from harsh parenting punishments). this supports the authoritian personality because it can be linked to the agentic state which is a mental state where we feel no responsibility, people will obey to the authoritian figure so much even if it goes against their moral beliefs. the authoritain personality supports milgrams study because the obedience rates were 65% for 450V because of an authoritian figure (experimenter wearing a grey lab coat giving prods e.g. “the experiment requires you to continue”, and also milgram and Elms took 40ppts and 20 obeyed to 450V and 20 disobeyed. they completed F scale test and found out that those 20 people who obeyed to 450V had harsh parenting experiences and a weak connection with their father. However this research is a coleration study; cause does not = effect
you cannot say the authoritian personality is causing people to be more obedient because a third variable may be introduced e.g. bad education
