SOCIAL INFLUENCE - obedience - situational explanations

Question 1

what is the agentic state?

Answer 1

Mental state where we feel no personal responsibility for our behaviour because we believe ourselves to be acting for an authority figure.

Question 2

what is an agent?

Answer 2

someone who acts in place for another

Question 3

what feelings do agents feel when they realise what they are doing is wrong?

Answer 3

High anxiety

Question 4

how does the agentic state explain obedience?

Answer 4

Obedience to destructive authority occurs because a person does not take responsibility. Instead they believe they are acting for someone else.

Question 5

what is the autonomous state?

Answer 5

Being independent or free.
Free to behave accordingly to their ow principle and feel responsible for their own actions.

Question 6

what is the agentic shift?

Answer 6

The shift from autonomy to agency.

Question 7

When does agentic shift occur?

Answer 7

when someone perceives someone else as an authority figure and defer to legitimate authortiy.

Question 8

why does an individual remain in an agentic state?

Answer 8

Binding factors = aspects within the situation that allows the person to ignore or minimise the damaging effects of their behaviour, reducing the moral strain they are feeling.

Question 9

what is the legitimacy of authority?

Answer 9

• when people obey someone above them in the social hierarchy.
• authority is rightful and agreed by society

Question 10

why do people accept authority figures?

Answer 10

It is necessary for people to tell others what to do in order for society to run smoothly.

Question 11

what are the consequences of legitimacy of authority?

Answer 11

• people are given the power to punish others
• police + courts have the right and power to punish wrongdoers
• we hand control of our behaviour to people who use their authority in a moral way.

Question 12

what is destructive authority?

Answer 12

eg leaders such as hitler,stalin use their legitimate power for destructive purposes = ordering people to behave in certain ways that are cruel and dangerous.

Question 13

was destructive authority used in milgrams study?

Answer 13

Yes, when experimenter used prods to order Ps to behave in certain ways that went against their consciences.

Question 14

How does legitimacy of authority explain obedience?

Answer 14

-Lai massacre can be explained in terms of the power of the hierarchy of US army
- soldiers destroyed villages by burning it
- one soldier was charged and found guilty - he argued he wasn’t guilty as he was just doing his duty, following orders from his superiors

This shows that soldiers were in their agentic state,
obeying orders and not feelings responsible for it.

Question 15

Evaluate the AGENTIC STATE?

Answer 15

+ Milgram study supports role of agentic state in obedience = Ps resisted in giving shocks. Experimenter was asked ‘who is responsible if the learner is harmed?’ and the experimenter said that they were responsible. Ps then proceeded in giving the shocks knowing that they were not responsible

• agentic shift does not explain many research findings about obedience.
  eg. Rank and Jacobson’s (1977) - 16/18 nurses disobeyed orders from a doctor. Doctor was authority figure but almost all nurses remained autonomous.
  This suggests that the agentic shift can only account for certain situations.

Question 16

Evaluate the LEGITIMACY OF AUTHORITY?

Answer 16

+ useful account of cultural differences in obedience
eg. Kilham and Mann (1974) found 16% Australian women went up to 450 volts in a milgram style study. However they also found that 85% german men proceeded up to 450 volts.
This shows reflects the different ways society are structured and how children are raised to perceive authority figures.

• cannot explain all disobedience where a authority figure is clear and accepted
  eg Rank and Jacobson study = most nurses were disobedient despite working in a hierarchical structure.
  This suggests some people may be more or less obedient than others.