Explanations for obedience

• Define obedience.


  Obedience refers to when an individual follows the orders given to them by an authority figure.
• Identify the 3 explanations for obedience.

  The agentic state explanation

  The legitimacy of authority explanation

  The dispositional explanation – the authoritarian personality
• Outline the agentic state as an explanation for obedience.


  According to this explanation, people can be in one of two states: the autonomous state and the agentic state.

  People are more likely to obey when they experience the agentic shift and enter the agentic state.
• Outline the agentic state as an explanation for obedience.


  The autonomous state refers to when people see themselves as behaving voluntarily i.e., they are choosing how to behave.

  This means that they are less likely to obey unjust orders from an authority figure as they feel more responsible for their actions.
• Outline the agentic state as an explanation for obedience.


  Instead, people are more likely to obey when they experience the agentic shift and enter the agentic state.

  This refers to when people see themselves as acting on behalf of an authority figure i.e. just following orders.

  This makes them more likely to obey unjust orders as they diffuse any responsibility onto the authority figure i.e., they do not personally feel responsible as they are ‘just following orders
• Evaluate the agentic state as an explanation for obedience: supporting evidence.


  Milgram conducted a touch proximity variation whereby the participant was instructed to hold the confederate's hand onto an electric shock plate. Obedience rates in this variation were lower than that in the original procedure. Reduced obedience in the touch proximity variation can be explained by the participants exiting the agentic state and entering the autonomous state - they took more responsibility over having to physically hold the learner's hand down onto the electric shock plate.
• Evaluate the agentic state as an explanation for obedience: fails to explain individual differences.


  Some of Milgram's participants in his original obedience research disobeyed the experimenter despite having the opportunity to diffuse their responsibility onto the authority figure. It suggests personality factors must also play a role in explaining obedience. Some people have an authoritarian personality where they believe in absolute obedience to those in authority. These individuals would have been more obedient and is thus better able to explain the individual differences.
• Evaluate the agentic state as an explanation for obedience: practical applications in terms of understanding Nazi Germany. 


  E.g. the agentic state can be seen in Nazi Germany whereby Nazi Adolf Eichmann claimed in his defence that he was only following orders from those in authority and was therefore not responsible for his actions. This is a strength because it shows how the agentic state explanation can be used to explain events such as the Holocaust and how to prevent such atrocities from occurring in the future.
• Outline the legitimacy of authority explanation for obedience.


  According to the legitimacy of authority explanation, obedience can be explained through the social hierarchy.

  This means that people are more obedient to those on a higher level of the social hierarchy (e.g. police officers).
• Outline the legitimacy of authority explanation for obedience.


  This is because individuals at the higher levels of the social hierarchy have more legitimate authority i.e. society generally agrees that they should hold authority over others.

  People therefore accept and trust that these legitimate authority figures have the right and expertise to tell us what to do to enable society to run smoothly.
• Outline the legitimacy of authority explanation for obedience.


  Such legitimate authority is often symbolised through uniforms.

  This helps to explain why people in positions of authority (e.g. police officers, fire fighters, nurses etc.) wear uniforms - they are more likely to be listened to and obeyed by members of the public.
• Evaluate the legitimacy of authority explanation for obedience: supporting evidence. 


  Milgram conducted a location variation whereby the location of the research was changed from Yale University to a run-down office block. Obedience rates in this variation were lower. The decrease in obedience rates can be explained by the proposal that participants would have trusted the authority figure at Yale University to exercise their authority appropriately as they work at an extremely prestigious university. This legitimacy of authority would not have been present in a run-down office block.
• Evaluate the legitimacy of authority explanation for obedience: fails to explain individual differences.


  Some of Milgram's participants in his original obedience research disobeyed the experimenter despite the experimenter having the same legitimacy of authority. It suggests personality factors must also play a role in explaining obedience. Some people have an authoritarian personality whereby they believe in absolute obedience to those in authority. These individuals would have been more obedient is thus better able to explain the individual differences in.
• Evaluate the legitimacy of authority explanation for obedience: practical applications in understanding cultural differences. 


  Studies have shown that countries differ in the extent to which people are obedient (e.g. collectivist cultures like those in Japan are typically more obedient than individualist cultures like those in the UK) . Milgram's study was replicated in different countries, differing obedient rates were obtained. This is a strength as it shows that how a society is structured and how much importance is placed on legitimate authority figures can affect obedience rates.
• Outline the dispositional explanation for obedience i.e. the authoritarian personality


  The authoritarian personality is a dispositional explanation for obedience in that it proposes that personality is the most important factor in predicting how obedient an individual will be. 

  The authoritarian personality therefore refers to a personality type whereby a person believes in absolute obedience to authority figures.
• Outline the dispositional explanation for obedience i.e. the authoritarian personality


  It is proposed to result from a strict upbringing whereby a child is socialised having a high amount of respect for authority figures and obeying them without question.

  Having an authoritarian personality also makes people less likely to be influenced by minorities into disobeying, thereby further increasing obedience.
• Outline the dispositional explanation for obedience i.e. the authoritarian personality

  This is because minorities are seen as inferior (do not have high status) and so they are not listened to when they attempt to encourage disobedience to bring about social change.

  The authoritarian personality is measured using the F-scale questionnaire which comprises of a series of statements (e.g. obedience and respect for authority are important for children to learn) that people rate their agreement with on a scale.
• Evaluate the dispositional explanation for obedience i.e. the authoritarian personality: supporting evidence.


  Milgram conducted interviews with a sample of his fully obedient participants. He found that these highly obedient participants scored highly on the F-scale as a measure of authoritarianism. This is a strength because it supports a relationship between authoritarianism and obedience.
• Evaluate the dispositional explanation for obedience i.e. the authoritarian personality: supporting evidence counter.


  The use of the F-scale to determine authoritarianism has been criticised. This is because all its statements are worded towards pro-authoritarianism. This is a limitation because it means the F-scale suffers from response bias - it would have been easy for the participants to score highly and so may be unrelated to their high levels of obedience.
• Evaluate the dispositional explanation for obedience i.e. the authoritarian personality: supporting evidence is merely correlational. 


  This is because it investigates whether there is a relationship between scores on the F-scale/authoritarianism and levels of obedience. It means cause and effect cannot be established. E.g. level of education could be a confounding variable in that those with a lower level of education are more likely to show authoritarianism and increased obedience. This means that it may be level of education that affects obedience.
• Evaluate the dispositional explanation for obedience i.e. the authoritarian personality: cannot explain obedience of entire social groups/societies. 


  In Nazi Germany, millions of individuals displayed obedient, anti-Semitic behaviour. It would be unreasonable to assume that every one of those people had an authority personality. Other theories such as the agentic state would be better able to explain this. E.g. the agentic state would propose that people in Nazi Germany obeyed their unjust orders as they diffused any responsibility onto the authority figures i.e. Nazi Soldiers.
• Evaluate the dispositional explanation for obedience i.e. the authoritarian personality: alternative theories


  Legitimacy of authority explanation proposes that obedience is likely when the person giving the order is higher up in the social hierarchy. Milgram changed the location of his study and found decreased obedience due to the decreased legitimacy of the experimenter. Better able to establish cause and effect than the correlational evidence for the authoritarian personality and so legitimacy of authority may be considered a more credible explanation.