obedience-situational explanations

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Grace

Cards (29)

what is agentic state
a mental state where we feel no personal responsibility for our behaviour because we believe ourselves to be acting for an authority figures
result of agentic state
frees us from the demands of our consciences and allows us to obey even a destructive authority figure
Milgram's (1973) agency theory
obedience to destructive authority occurs because a person odes not take responsibility
instead they believe they are acting for someone else
what is an agent
someone who acts for or in place of another
example of agentic state
the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam war
extreme violence agaisned unarmed villagers by armed soldiers who were told to attack by their captain
what is moral strain
psychological distress felt when an 'agent' follows orders and realise what they are doing is wrong but feel powerless to disobey
what is the opposite of being in an agentic state
autonomous state
what is autonomous state
being free to behave according to your own principles and feeling a sense of responsibility for your own actions
what is the shift from autonomy to 'agency'
agentic shift
Milgram's 1974 theory of agentic shift
agentic shift occurs when person perceives someone else as an authority figure
the authority figure has greater power because they have a higher position in a social hierarchy
what are binding factors
aspects of the situation that allow the person to ignore or minimise the damaging effect of their behaviour and reduce 'moral strain'
binding factors in Milgram's research
shifting the responsibility to the victim ('he was foolish to volunteer')
denying the damage they were doing to the victims
types of legitimate authority
parents, tecahers, police officers
their authority is legitimate as it is agreed by all of society
positive impact of authority
most people accept the power authority figures have to exercise over others because it allows society to function smoothly
consequences of authority
legitimacy of authority
what is legitimacy of authority
an explanation for obedience
their authority is justified (legitimised) by the individuals position of power within a social hierarchy
some people are granted the power to punish others
where does legitimate authority come from
having defined social role which people respect - it implies knowledge or comes with legal power
where is legitimate authority learnt
we learn acceptance of legitimate authority from childhood, from parents, teachers and adults
what is destructive authority
when legitimate authority becomes destructive
example of destructive authority
hitler, pol pot
they used their legitimate powers for destructive purposes, wording people to behave in ways that are cruel and dangerous
when was destructive authority shown in Milgram's study
when the experimenter used prods to order pps to behave in ways that went against their consciences
strengths of Milgram's agentic state
research support- when asked the experimenter owned up to responsibility to harm to the learner, shows that once pps perceived they weren't responsible they acted more easily
limitations of Milgram's agentic state
limited explanation (Rank and Jacobson)
Rank and Jacobson's 1977 research
found 16/18 hospital nurses disobeyed orders from a doctor to administer an excessive drug dose to a paitent
doctor= authority figure
nurses remained autonomous
suggest agentic shift only accounts for some situations
strength of legitimisation of authority research
explains cultural differences (Kilham and Mann, Mantell)
Kilham and Mann (1974) research
found that only 16% of Australian women went to 450 volts in a milligram style study
Mantell's 1971 research
found 85% of German students went to 450 volts
what do cultural differences show
in some cultures authority is more likely to be accepted as legitimate and entitled
reflects the ways that different societies are structured and how children are raised to perceive authority figures
limitations of legitimate authority research
cannot explain all disobedience (Rank and Jacobson- most of the nurses disobeyed delisted the hierarchal authority structure)