situational explanations of obedience

• Agency theory


  Moral strain - know what they're doing is wrong but feel powerless to disobey
• Agentic state


  Acting as an agent for an authority figure + passing responsibility to the authority figure
• Autonomous state

  Acting out of free will + taking responsibility for actions
• Agentic shift


  Shifting from autonomy to agency
• Milgram's research supports the concept of agentic shift
• Participants in Milgram's study

  • Some participants carried on when the experimenter said they were responsible
  • Participants followed destructive orders when they thought they were not responsible anymore (experienced an agentic shift)
• Milgram's study showed that 35% still disobeyed, but the situation shows they should have experienced an agentic shift
• The explanation ignores individual variables
• Milgram's research supports the concept of moral strain
• Participants were sweating and in distress
• The moral strain experienced by participants supports the occurrence of an agentic shift before they followed destructive orders
• Situational explanations of obedience

  Explanations for why people obey authority figures based on the situation, rather than individual factors
• Legitimacy of authority


  The belief that those in authority have the right to exercise power and demand obedience
• Reasons for legitimacy of authority

  • Society agrees we should obey those higher in the social hierarchy
  • These people can exercise their powers
  • We view their authority as legitimate
• 1. Support from milgram
• Participants obeyed more when experimenter wore a lab coat compared to casual clothes
• 1. the uniform makes the experimenter appear more legitimate


  which supports that people are more likely to obey when the authority appears legitimate
• 1. explains cultural differences
• 1. Australians only 16% went up to 450 v


  • but 85% of Germans went upto 450 v
• 1. in some cultures authority is more likely to be perceived as legitimate


  reflecting societies structure influences perception on legitimacy of authority
• 1. not all participants obey when authority is legitimate
• In milgram's 35% did not obey all the way up to 450v even though authority Figure was seen as legitimate
• suggests there are other factors

  such as individual variables that the explanation doesn't account for