situational explanations

• what is the agentic state?

  mental state where you feel no personal responsibility for your behaviour, as we believe we are acting for an authority figure= this frees us from demands
• what is the shift from autonomous to agentic state called?

  agentic shift= happens when someone perceives someone else as an authority figure.
• what is the autonomous state?

  mental state which frees people to behave accordingly to their own beliefs, feeling responsibility
• what are binding factors?

  aspects of a situation which allow a person to ignore/minimise damaging effects of their behaviour (they shift responsibility to victim or deny damage done)
• what is legitimacy of authority?

  recognition of authority by individuals or groups as valid or rightful= so we are more likely to obey people who have authority over us
• what happens due to legitimacy of authority?

  societies are structured in a hierarchal way and we give up independence and control to others.
• what is destructive authority?

  an abuse of power which can order people to behave in a cruel way.
• what is the evaluation of situational explanations?

  • Supporting Evidence= Blass-Schmitt (2001)- showed milgram's study to students (PET)
  • Refuting Evidence= Mandel (1998)- ignored other factors that can explain obedience (PET)
  • Individual Differences= Kilham-Mann (1974)- other countries are more likely to obey (PET)
  • Methodology= Burger (2011)- argued Milgram had a biased approach when devising experiments (PET)