Explanations for Obedience

• What is the Agentic state?

  Individual gives up their free will and no longer sees themselves as acting independently, but as an ‘agent’ implementing an authority figure decision.
• What is an example of the Agentic state?

  Participants in Milgram’s experiment were acting as agents of the experimenter and carrying out their orders, they can try to convince themselves that they are ultimately not responsible.
• What are the 2 different states we can be in?

  1. Agentic - you are not in control, you are just obeying orders.
  2. Autonomous - you decide on, direct and take responsibility for your own actions.
• What is diffused responsibility?

  Individual may feel a dismissed state of personal responsibility because they assume others will take action - in this case the authority figure, thus diffusing the overall responsibility.
• What can diffused responsibility result in?

  Individuals being less likely to take action and act independently.
• What will someone in an Agentic state experience?

  Moral Strain
• What is Moral Strain?

  Feeling uncomfortable, distressed as a consequence of going against your own conscience and doing something you know to be wrong.
• How does someone cope with Moral Strain?

  1. Repression
  2. Denial
• What is Repression?


  A type of psychological defence mechanism that involves keeping certain thoughts, feelings, or urges out of conscious awareness.
• What is Denial?


  As seen by many former Nazi soldiers who simply denied the Holocaust ever occured.
• What is Legitimacy of Authority?

  Obeying those who have an authority over us, like parents or someone we trust.
• What factors can help us recognise Legitimacy Authority?

  Uniforms and locations.
• What research supports Location?

  Moving the experiment from a prestigious university to a run down office block (65% to 47.5%)
• What research supports Legitimacy of Authority?

  Bickman’s (1974) NY field research.
• What is Authoritarianism?


  Personality disorder where the individual has the tendency to be rigid, dogmatic, absolute to beliefs, resistant to changes, obedient to authority, submissive to the people who regards superior than him and cynical against the out group members who regards as inferior in comparison with his group members.
• What are the 4 things that contribute to an authoritarian personality?

  1. ‘Might is Right’
  2. Upbringing
  3. Personality traits
  4. The F Scale
• What is Might is Right?

  Adorno (1950) saw these individuals as having insecurities that led them to be hostile to non-conventional people and having a belief in a need for power and toughness which leads them to be highly obedient to authority figures. They believe in POWER and respond submissively.
• What is Upbringing?

  1. If a person is raised by strict and distant parents, who punish constantly for minor reasons
  2. Have rigid and absolute ideologies and values about society

  an individual learns from early childhood to obey the people who have more power and privileges than them, and they will continue this obedient attitude as an adult.
• What is Personality traits?

  • Respect of authority, figures, and a submissive attitude towards authority figures
  • Bridget believes in conventional values (tunnel vision)
  • General hostility towards other groups (often towards minority groups) and racial in group favouritism
  • Intolerance of ambiguity
• What is the F Scale?

  Adorno developed the F-Scale that measures Fascism.

  There are 30 questions measuring 9 dimensions of personality.

  this way we could readily identify who is authoritarian and highly obedient.