A01

• State the two social-psychological explanations for obedience

  1. Agentic state

  2. Legitimacy of authority
• Define the agentic state

  When a person sees themselves as an agent for carrying out another person's wishes
• Outline the autonomous state

  When a person sees themselves as free to behave according to their own principles
• Explain the agentic shift

  The shift from being autonomous to taking on the agentic state - normally when in presence of perceived authority
• Outline binding factors

  Aspects of the situation that bind us to the task and help us to block out the moral strain we are experiencing
• Define legitimacy of authority

  A person who is perceived to be in a position of social control within a situation (condition needed to shift into agentic state)
• Describe the social-psychological conditions that make it more likely for a person to obey

  If they shift from an autonomous to an agentic state and being given orders by a perceived legitimate authoritative figure
• State a study which shows support for both social-psychological factors

  Blass and Schmitt (2001)
• Describe how the above study shows evidence for legitimacy of authority and the agentic state

  - Showed a film of Milgram's study and students (the participants) blamed the experimenter for harm caused to the learner

  - They argued that obedience was due to the naïve participants perceiving the experimenter as an legitimate authoritative figure

  - They also suggested that the naïve participant was acting as an 'agent' on behalf of the experimenter, demonstrating how their perceived authority led them to shift from an autonomous to an agentic state
• State a real-life example of social-psychological explanations for obedience

  Real-life war crimes, e.g. My Lai Massacre (Vietnam War) or the Holocaust (WWII)