obedience

• Why might the location of the experiment have made a difference to obedience?

  Yale university is a respected location with high social status. In universities, professors and scientists are seen as knowledgeable, and have authority over others. So, being in the university might have increased the perceived legitimacy of authority of the experimenter.
• Why do the reactions of sweating and panicking not support the idea that the experiment suffered from demand characteristics?

  These reactions do not support the idea that the experiment suffered from demand characteristics because they indicate that the participants thought the shocks were real - they felt guilty for giving shocks.
• Describe Milgram’s additional experiments investigating the effect of uniform and proximity of the authority figure and how this affects obedience.

  He got the experimenter to wear normal clothing not the lab coat. He found that the obedience rates dropped in this condition.Milgram tested the effect of the proximity of the authority figure. The researcher gave instructions to the participant over the phone. This lead to obedience rates at 23 obeying to the 450 volts.They suggest that the uniform and proximity of the authority figure affects obedience rates.
• What is meant by obedience?

  Obedience is when a person follows the direct orders of a person who they feel has authority over them.
• What are four variables that affect obedience?

  the proximity of the authority figure, the proximity of the victim, the location, and the presence of uniforms.
• What is meant by a social hierarchy?

  A social hierarchy is when some people have authority over the other people in a social group, so the power structure is unequal.
• What is meant by legitimate authority?

  The legitimacy of authority explanation of obedience says that because we grow up in social hierarchies, we learn from a young age to obey people who are higher up in the social hierarchy, because we respect their authority over us and see it as legitimate.
• what is meant by moral strain?

  According to Milgram, when people are given destructive orders by legitimate figures of authority, they experience conflict, which is referred to as moral strain. This occurs when someone feels they need to obey the authority figure, but they don’t want to be responsible for the negative consequences of their actions.
• What is meant by the agentic state?

  when a person shifts responsibility and sees themselves as an agent acting on behalf of the authority figure.
• what is meant by the autonomous state?

  when a person acts of their own free will, and takes responsibility for their actions.
• What is meant by the agentic shift?

  When people obey the orders of an authority figure, they shift from their usual state of being, which is referred to as the autonomous state, to the agentic state.
• What is the agency theory explanation of obedience?

  Milgram’s agency theory says that, when people obey the orders of a legitimate authority figure, they shift responsibility for the consequences of their actions away from them to the authority figure. So, they make an agentic shift from the autonomous state to the agentic state.
• Who came up with the agency theory?

  Stanley Milgram
• What is meant by the authoritarian personality?

  A person has an authoritarian personality if they believe in strict adherence to social rules, absolute obedience towards people with more power, and look down on people with less power.
• Who came up with the authoritarian personality theory of obedience?

  Adorno
• What is the authoritarian personality theory of obedience?

  The authoritarian personality theory of obedience says that people with an authoritarian personality are more likely to obey because it makes them more strict, aggressive, and overly respectful of authority.
• Which researcher investigated obedience using electric shocks?

  Milgram
• What is meant by the F-scale?

  The F-scale is a questionnaire developed by Adorno developed as a way of measuring authoritarian personality theory.