Situational explanations of obedience

• Legitimacy of authority

  1. Compliance with the law: legitimate business
  2. Accordance with established or accepted practices and standards: legitimate advertising
  3. Based on logical reasoning: legitimate solution
  4. Authentic: legitimate complaint
• We are more likely to obey people who we perceive to have authority over us
• This authority is justified (legitimate) by the individual's position of power within a social hierarchy
• Kelman and Hamilton (1989) suggest 3 main factors to explain obedience

  • Legitimacy of the system
  • Legitimacy of authority within the system
  • Legitimacy of demands or orders given
• Legitimacy of the system

  • Concerns the extent to which the 'body' is a legitimate source of authority
• Legitimacy of authority within the system

  • This is the power individuals hold to give orders because of their position in the system
  • This is therefore linked to status and the hierarchy within a particular establishment
• Legitimacy of demands or orders given

  • Refers to the extent with which the order is perceived to be a legitimate area for the authority figure
• Destructive authority

  • Powerful leaders can use their legitimate powers for destructive power
  • E.g. My Lai massacre, Holocaust, Abu Graib
• My Lai massacre

  • Agentic: Soldiers were just doing what their superiors told them
  • Autonomous: Some soldiers stood against it and saved the civilians
• Agentic state- Authority is responsible for behaviour
• Autonomous state- You are responsible
• STRENGTHS of explanations for obedience

  • Supporting evidence: Milgram
  • Real life application: war
  • Generalisability: multiple case studies with large groups of people
  • Methods: covert observation, case study
• LIMITATIONS of explanations of obedience

  • Reductionist: Ignores personality (authoritarian, locus of control)
  • Generalisability: men, western
  • Methods: demand characteristics, extreme circumstances
  • Doesn't explain why people disobey