Social-Psychological Factors Affecting Obedience

Cards (10)

What are 2 social-psychological explanations for obedience?
Agentic state and legitimacy of authority
What is the agentic state?
When a person sees themselves as an agent for carrying out another person's wishes
What is the autonomous state?
When a person sees themselves as free to behave according to their own principles
What is the agentic shift?
The shift from being autonomous to taking on the agentic state - normally when in presence of perceived authority
What are binding factors?
Aspects of a situation that bind us to the task and help us to block out the moral strain we are experiencing
What is legitimacy of authority?
A person who is perceived to be in a position of social control within a situation (condition needed to shift into agentic state)
What social-psychological conditions will make it more likely for a person to obey?
If they shift from an autonomous to an agentic state and being given orders by a legitimate authoritative figure
State a study which shows support for legitimacy of authority
Blass and Schmitt (2001)
How does the Blass and Schmitt (2001) study show evidence for legitimacy of authority? 
x Showed a film of Milgram's study and students blamed experimenter for harm of learner x Argued obedience was due to participants perceiving experimenter as legitimate authoritative figure
State a real-life application of social-psychological factors for obedience
Real-life war crimes = My Lai Massacre (Vietnam War)