Obedience: Situational Explanations Flashcards
(15 cards)
What is an agentic state?
An agentic state is when a person acts for someone else, feeling powerless to disobey despite realizing their actions may be wrong.
This state can lead to high anxiety, known as moral strain.
What conclusion did Milgram draw about obedience to authority?
Milgram concluded that obedience to destructive authority occurs because individuals do not take responsibility, feeling as though they act for someone else.
What causes agentic states according to Milgram?
Agentic states can be caused by the division of labor, where individuals have specialized roles and look up to authority for directions.
What is the autonomous state?
The autonomous state is the opposite of the agentic state, where individuals behave according to their own principles and feel responsible for their actions.
What is an agentic shift?
An agentic shift is the transition from autonomy to agency, occurring when a person perceives someone as a figure of authority.
What are binding factors?
Aspects of a situation that allow a person to ignore or minimize the damaging effects of their behavior, thereby reducing moral strain.
Milgram’s participants spoke about wanting to quit but seemed unable to do so
What strategies are used to reduce moral strain?
Strategies to reduce moral strain include:
* Shifting responsibilities to the victim
* Denying the damage caused.
What is legitimacy of authority?
Legitimacy of authority refers to the acceptance of social power held by individuals in certain positions, such as parents, police, and teachers.
Applies to hierarchal individualistic societies
What issues arise with destructive authority?
Problems arise when legitimate authority becomes destructive, leading individuals to behave in cruel or dangerous ways.
What happened during the My Lai Massacre in 1968?
In the My Lai Massacre, American soldiers killed 504 unarmed civilians, including gang rapes and destruction of property, with only Lt. William Calley facing charges.
Defense: He was ‘only following orders’
What limitation does the agentic shift have according to critics?
The agentic shift doesnt explain many research findings like why some participants did not obey or the findings of Hofling et al., where 21 out of 22 nurses obeyed unjustified demands.
Nurses didnt show levels of anxiety as milgram predicted
- agentic shift can only acccount for some situations of obedience
What’s another limitation of agentic shift?
Evidence shows behaviour of nazis cant be explained via authority or an agentic shift, Mandel described an incident with the germany reserve police battalion
Men obeyed orders to shoot civilians despite not being forced with alternative options
What’s a strength of legitimacy of authority related to Blass and Schmitt?
Blass and Schmitt (showed students film of milgrams study) found that students blamed the experimenter for harm done to the learner, attributing responsibility to legitimate authority.
recognised legitimacy of authority as the cause of obedience
What’s another strength of legitimacy of authority regarding cultural differences?
Cultural differences affect obedience to authority, it’s more accepted in some cultures and entitled to demand obedience
Kilham and Mann found that 16% of partipants went to 450 volts in a replication in australia
Mantell found 85% went to 450 volts
What’s another strength of legitimacy of authority regarding cross cultural research?
Increases validity of explanation and explains real life war crimes
Kelman and Hamilton argues the My Lai massacre can be understood in terms of the power hierarchy of the US army
