6. Obedience - Situational Explanations

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Cards (8)

    1. Obedience - Situational Explanations
    Milgram - acting under authority figure makes easy to deny personal responsibility.
    • May want to stop but can’t due to binding factors.
    Agentic State.
    Autonomous State.
    Agentic Shift.
  • 1a. Obedience - Situational Explanations
    Kelman + Hamilton (1989):
    Legitimacy of Authority - more likely obey authority figures; authority justified by position of power within social hierarchy.
    Legitimacy of System
    • Extent which ‘body’ legitimate source of authority.
    Legitimacy of Authority within System
    • Power individual holds to give orders bc of position in system (hierarch/status).
    Legitimacy of Demands or Orders Given
    • Extent which orders perceived legitimate area authroity figure.
  • 1b. Obedience - Situational Explanations
    Destructive Authority:
    • Seen in Milgram’s (1963) study when experimenter uses prods.
  • 1c. Obedience - Situational Explanations
    Real-Life Application:
    Milgram’s (1963) findings explain events in My Lai.
    • William Calley guilty of killing 22 civilians.
    • Claimed following orders.
  • Obedience - Situational Explanations (Evaluation)
    Strength:
    P - Milgram’s studies support role agentic state in obedience.
    E - resisted giving shocks at some point; asked questions about procedure.
    E - experimenter explained they’re responsible, not participant.
    L - acted as ‘agent’ to experimenter.
  • Obedience - Situational Explanations (Evaluation)
    Limitation:
    P - agentic shift doesn’t explain other obedience findings.
    E - Rank + Jacobson (1977), 16/18 nurses disobeyed orders.
    E - doctor authority figure, but majority remained autonomous.
    L - agentic shift accounts for some obedience.
  • Obedience - Situational Explanations (Evaluation)
    Strength:
    P - Kelman + Hamilton’s (1998) legitimacy explanation useful account of cultural differences.
    E - Kilham + Mann (1974), 16% female Australians went to 450v in Milgram replication.
    L - some cultures, authority accepted as legitimate = demands obedience, whereas in others not so much.
  • Obedience - Situational Explanations (Evaluation)
    Limitation:
    P - legitimacy can’t explain disobedience where legitimacy of authority clear/accepted.
    E - Rank + Jacobson (1977), nurses disobeyed despite hierarchical authority structure.
    L - some people more/less obedient; innate tendencies to obey/disobey greater influence than legitimacy of authority.