Explanations for obedience

• Explanations for obedience

  • Agentic state
  • Legitamacy of authority
• Agentic state- refers to a mental state where we feel no personal responsibility for our behaviour. This is because we feel as if we are acting for the authority figure as their agent
• Autonomous state- individuals are seen as personally responsible for their actions
• [Milgram] suggested an agentic shift occurs when a person sees somebody else as an authority figure
• Binding factors- aspects of the situation that allows the person to ignore/ minimise moral strain
• +[Milgram] Research to support agentic state

  • resisted giving shocks after asking the experimenter 'who is responsible'
• -[Rank& Jacobson]- Research to contradict obedience

  • 16/18 hospital nurses disobeyed orders to administer an excessive drug dose to patients
• Legitimacy of authority- more likely to obey people who we perceive to have authority over us

  • Authority is justified by the individuals position of power with a social hierarchy
• Destructive authority- When leaders use their power for destructive purposes.

  [Milgram] used prods to order participants to go against their consciences- 'you must go on'
• +Legitimacy of authority explains cultural differences [Kilham+Mann}

  • only 16% of females went up to 450V in Australia
  • [Mantell] 85% went up to 450V in Germany
• -Legitimacy of authority cannot explain all disobediences [Rank&Jacobson]

  • 16/18 nurses disobeyed orders from a doctor to administer an excessive high dose to patients
  • [Milgram] some people disobeyed even tho it was legitimate