Social-psychological factors (exp of obedience)

• Social psychological factors are agentic state and legitimacy of authority.
• Agentic state

  Milgram proposed this

  By this he meant

  When we act as the agent (representative) of someone in authority we find it easy to deny personal responsibility for our actions - it's just doing our job or just following orders.
• autonomous state - individuals direct their own behaviour,and take responsibility for the consequences.
• Agentic shift

  People move from the autonomous state into the agentic state when confronted with an authority figure.

  If we obey an order that goes against our conscience,we are likely to experience moral strain,which results when we have to do something we believe to be immoral in order to function as an agent of authority.

  Although people in such a situation may want to stop,they feel unable to do so due to binding factors - aspects of the situation which allow a person to minimise the damaging effect of their behaviour (putting the blame on the authority figure who instructed them)
• Agentic state

  Research support by Milgram,whose own research demonstrated how the majority of ordinary people will follow instructions even when acting against their conscience. Blass and Schmitt (2001) found that people who saw videos of Milgram's study blamed the experimenter,indicating that they believed p's were agents of authority. Therefore,this explanation can support many historical events which demonstrate that as a result of social pressure people can act in a callous and inhuman way. Therefore, agentic state is a valid explanation of why people obey.
• However,agentic state theory does not consider other possibilities regarding why people obey against their conscience. Zimbardo's research could indicate that Milgram had detected signs of cruelty amongst his p's,and this is why he chose them. In Zimbardo's experiment,within just a few days,the guards inflicted cruelty on prisoners. Therefore,it could be argued that personality (dispositional) factors are instead the reason why people obey orders,as some people might have a naturally more obedient personality that others,making them more capable of committing cruel acts. Invalid explanation.
• Legitimacy of authority

  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 the authority within the system (person)

  Legitimacy of demand/orders given

  These 3 systems must all be legitimate for obedience,if one of them is illegitimate this will lead to disobedience.
• Legitimacy of the system

  This concerns the extent to which the ‘body’ is a

  legitimate source of authority

  e.g post-16,home,workplace,government,church
• Legitimacy of authority within the system

  This is the power individuals hold to give orders because of their

  position in the system

  This therefore is linked to status and the hierarchy within a particular

  establishment

  Post-16 ---> teacher Government ---> Priminister
• Legitimacy of demands or orders given

  This refers to the extent with which the order is perceived to be a

  legitimate area for the authority figure

  Example

  It is reasonable for a teacher to ask you to complete your homework,

  BUT it is not reasonable for the teacher to demand that you go and

  wash their car!!!
• A real world application of legitimacy theory is that it has led to destructive authority. History has shown all too often that powerful leaders (such as Hitler,Stalin) can use their legitimate powers for destructive purposes. Destructive authority was shown in Milgram’s study when the experimenter used prods to order the p’s to behave in ways that went against their consciences. Therefore,legitimacy theory of why people obey has external validity.
• An issue with the legitimacy of authority theory is that it can be used

  to justify the harming of others. In the case of Hitler’s Nazis, they were instructed to kill a variety of individuals who did not fit into Hitler’s "master race",Hitler can be seen to be giving a ‘legitimate’ order,from a legitimate individual,in a legitimate system. This suggests if people authorise another person to make judgements for them

  about what is appropriate conduct, they no longer feel that their own moral values are relevant to their conduct, and causes them to engage in immoral actions. invalid explanation