Obedience - Situational explanations

• Autonomous state:

  A mindset where someone behaves independently, make their own decision and take responsibility for their own actions.
• Agentic state:

  • acting as an agent for somebody who is deemed to have greater power in a social hierarchy
  • The individual feels high levels of anxiety when under the agentic state
  • They don't feel able to disobey
• Binding factors:

  They are factors that minimise the anxiety and moral strain by shifting responsibility to the victim or denying harm

  Linked to the agentic state
• Legitimacy of authority:

  • most societies are structures in a hierarchical way
  • certain positions hold authority over us
  • e.g teachers, parents, police
  • most accept that these figures van authorise power
• Strength of agentic state: Research support

  Most of Milgram's participants resisted giving shocks at some point. When they were told they weren't responsible, the participants didn't object any further
• Limitation: Agentic state: Limited explanation:

  • Doesn't explain Rank and Jacobsen
  • 16 out of 18 nurses disobeyed orders from a doctor to administer excessive drugs
  • this shows that the nurses remained autonomous
• Strength: Legitimacy of authority: Explains cultural differences

  • useful account of cultural differences in obedience
  • many countries differ in the degree to which people are obedient
  • only 16% Australian women went all the way
  • 85% of German participants went all the way
• Limitation: Legitimacy of authority: Cannot explain disobedience

  • Rank and Jacobsen - most were disobedient despite a rigid hierarchical structure