Situational explanations Flashcards
(12 cards)
What is an agent state?
A mental state where we feel no personal responsibility for our behaviour because we believe ourselves to be acting for an authoritative figure
What is an agent?
Someone who acts for or in place as another
Experience moral strain when they realise that what they are doing is wrong but feel powerless to disobey.
What is an autonomous state?
Free to behave according to their own principles and feel a sense of responsibility for their own actions.
What is an agent shift according to Milgram?
When we go from an autonomous state to an agent state
What are binding factors?
Aspects of the situation that allow the person to ignore or minimise the damaging effect of their behaviour and reduce the moral strain they are feeling.
Milgram proposed a number of strategies that the individual uses, such as shifting responsibility to victim.
What is legitimacy of authority?
An explanation for obedience which suggests that we are more likely to obey people who we perceive to have authority over us.
This authority is justified by the individuals position of power within a social hierarchy.
What is a consequence of legitimacy of authority?
People are granted power to punish others.
Generally agree with the police and courts have the power to punish wrong doers, so we are willing to give up some of our independence to hand control of our behaviour over to people we trust to exercise their authority appropriately.
We learn it from childhood.
What is destructive authority?
When legitimate authority figures use their power to display destructive behaviour, by order others to behave cruelly
What is an evaluation of agent state in obedience?
Research support
Milgram’s own studies support the role of the agentic state
Participants resisted giving shocks at some point
Often asked the experimenter questions about the procedure.
‘Who is responsible for Mr Wallace is harmed?’
‘Im responsible’
Participants often when through the procedure quickly with no further objections
Showing that once participants perceived they were no longer responsible for their own behaviour, they acted more easily as the experimenters agent.
What is an evaluation of agent state in obedience?
Limited explanations
Doesn’t explain many research findings about obedience.
Doesn’t explain findings of Rank and Jacobsons study
Found that 16/18 hospital nurses disobeyed orders from a doctor to administer excessive drug dose to a patient.
Doctor was an obvious authority figure.
Almost all nurses remained authonomous, as did many of Milgrams participants.
Suggesting at best the agent shift can only account for some situations of obedience
What is an evaluation for legitimacy?
Explains cultural differences
Useful account of cultural differences in obedience
Many studies show that countries differ in the degree which people are obedient to authority.
Kilham and Mann
Found only 16% of Australian women went all the way up to 450 volts in a Milgram style study.
Mantell
Found very different figure for German participants - 85%
Showing that in some cultures authority is more likely yo be accepted as legitimate and entitled to demand obedience from individuals.
Reflecting the ways that different societies are structured and how children are raised to perceived authority figures.
What is an evaluation for legitimacy in obedience?
Cannot explain all disobedience
Cannot explain instances of disobedience in a hierarchy where the legitimacy of authority is clear and accepted.
Rank and Jacobson’s study
Most were disobedient despite working in a rigidly hierarchal authority structure.
Significant minority of milgrams participants disobeyed despite recognising the experimenters scientific authority.
Suggesting some people may just be more obedient than others.
Possible that innate tendencies to obey or disobey have a greater influence on behaviour than the legitimacy of an authority figure.
