situational

• * practical application a.s?

  • adolf eichmanns questioning he said he was "just doing his job" under leadership of hitler
  • nazis obeyed orders & can be understood by agentic state
  • occurs due to binding factors - allowed eichmann to ignore damaging effect of his behaviour
  • when presented with orders from authority figure we shift responsibility
  • experience agentic shift from autonomous state
  • more likely to obey someone who has social power - they are responsible
• * evidence to support a.s from milgrams variation?

  • found that when additional confederate gave electric shock on behalf of real p (teacher) obedience rose to 92.5% for 450v
  • comparing to 65% giving shocks themselves
  • p shifted responsibility to person giving shock
  • provides evidence that people obey more when they feel less responsible for outcome
• X evidence to contradict from milgrams original?

  • as humans all bought up in heirarchal society
  • according to this we should obey someone with higher legitimate authority
  • in ms study not everyone obeyed experimenter
  • 35% refused to obey
  • provides evidence that results do not generalise to all of p
  • shows there may be other factors involved in obedience
• * evidence to support a.s from blass & schmitt?

  • showed film of milgrams study to group of students & asked who they thought was responsible for harm to learner
  • they blamed experimenter rather than real p who gave electric shock
  • shows when we are in agentic state we believe authority figure is responsible as we do not see ourselves in control of our own actions
  • more likely to be obedient as we are acting as agent on behalf of authority figure
• * evidence to support l.a from bickman?

  • conducted field experiment where confederate dressed in casual jacket, milkman uniform, security guard jacket
  • asked real p in park to pick up litter
  • found p twice more likely to obey when confederate wore security uniform
  • uniform made him appear more/less like legitimate authority
  • provides evidence that when authority figure is wearing uniform this makes them seen as legitimate, increasing obedience