Social-psychological factors in obedience

• Agentic state - occurs when we act on behalf of another person.


  Milgram proposed that obedience to destructive authority occurs because a person becomes an 'agent'. In an agentic state a person feels no personal responsibility for their actions.
• Autonomous state - to be independent or free. 


  A person in an autonomous state behaves according to their own principles and feels responsible for their own actions.
• Agentic shift - occurs when a person defers to the authority figure (like walking into school).


  Milgram suggested that this occurs when we perceive someone else as an authority figure, such as shifting the responsibility to the victim or denying the damage they are doing to victims.
• Binding factors - reduce the 'moral strain' of obeying immoral orders. 


  These are aspects of a situation that allow the person to ignore or minimise the damaging effect of their behaviour and reduce the 'moral strain' they feel.

  Milgram, proposed a number of strategies the individual uses, such as shifting the responsibility to the victim or denying the damage they are doing to victims.
• Legitimacy of authority

  • We obey people at the top of a hierarchy.
  • Authorities have legitimacy through society's agreement.
  • We hand control of our behaviour over to authority figures due to trust and through upbringing.
  • Leaders use their legitimate powers for destructive purposes.
• A limitation is the agentic shift doesn't explain many of the research findings.

  Some participants did not obey - humans are social animals in social hierarchies and therefore should all obey. Also in Hofling's study, nurses should have felt anxiety as they gave responsibility over to the doctor, because they understood their role in a destructive process. This was not the case. So, agentic shift can only account for some situations of obedience.
• A strength is that legitimacy of authority can explain real-life obedience.


  Kelman suggests the My Lai massacre is explained by the power hierarchy of the US army. The army has authority recognised by the US government and the law. Soldiers assume orders given by the hierarchy to be legal; even orders to kill, rape, and destroy villages. The legitimacy of authority explanation is able to give reasons why destructive obedience is committed.
• A strength is that the agentic state explanation has research support.


  Blass showed students a film of Milgram's study and asked them to identify who was responsible for harm to the learner. Students blamed the 'experimenter' rather than the participant. This responsibility was due to legitimate authority but also to expert authority. The students recognised legitimate authority as the cause of obedience, supporting this explanation.