weaknesses of dispositional explanations for obedience

• obedience might not be purely dispositional. Alternative explanations, such as the agentic state and legitimacy of authority, offer situational explanations for obedience and have strong supporting evidence. The agentic state theory suggests that people obey because they see themselves as acting on behalf of an authority figure, shifting responsibility for their actions onto them. Similarly, legitimacy of authority theory argues that people obey those they perceive as having legitimate power in a social hierarchy. These explanations are supported by Milgram’s original study, where 100% of the participants obeyed to shock Mr Wallace with 300 volts (despite varying personalities) suggesting that situational factors play a crucial role. This challenges the authoritarian personality explanation by indicating that obedience may be more influenced by external circumstances than by personality traits alone. 
• A limitation of the authoritarian personality as an explanation for obedience is that differences in obedience may be better explained by education level rather than personality traits. Research has shown that individuals with lower levels of education tend to score higher on measures of authoritarianism, suggesting that authoritarian traits may be linked to education rather than being an inherent personality characteristic. Additionally, Milgram found that participants with lower levels of education were more likely to obey orders to administer shocks, indicating that obedience may be influenced by cognitive and social factors associated with education rather than authoritarian personality alone. This challenges the authoritarian personality explanation by suggesting that education level may be a confounding variable, meaning that differences in obedience could be due to educational background rather than dispositional traits.