Obedience : Situational explanations

Question 1

What is the autonomous state ?

Answer 1

• A mindset where someone behaves independently, make their own decision and take responsibility for their own actions.

Question 2

What is the agentic state ?

Answer 2

• acting as an agent for somebody who is deemed to have greater power in a social hierarchy
• The individual feels high levels of anxiety when under the agentic state
• They don’t feel able to disobey

Question 3

What are binding factors ?

Answer 3

They are factors that minimise the anxiety and moral strain by shifting responsibility to the victim or denying harm

Question 4

What is the legitimacy of authority ?

Answer 4

• most societies are structures in a hierarchical way
• certain positions hold authority over us
• e.g teachers, parents, police
• most accept that these figures van authorise power

Question 5

What are the evaluations of the agentic state ?

Answer 5

Strength = Research support
Most of Milgram’s participants resisted giving shocks at some point. When they were told they weren’t responsible, the participants didn’t object any further

Limitation = Limited explanation
- Doesn’t explain Rank and Jacobsen
- 16 out of 18 nurses disobeyed orders from a doctor to administer excessive drugs
- this shows that the nurses remained autonomous

Question 6

What are the evaluations of the legitimacy of authority ?

Answer 6

Strength = Real-world application
- Explains instances of obedience to destructive authority
- E.g. The My Lai Massacre in the Vietnam war
- Soldiers followed orders from those in perceived high powers even when committing crime

Limitation = legitimacy cannot explain all instances of disobedience
- Rank and Jacobsen - most were disobedient despite a rigid hierarchical structure