Socio/psychological explanations for obedience

• Milgram 1974:

  • Agentic state: when someone sees themselves as an agent carrying out another's wishes
  • Autonomous state: when someone sees themselves as responsible for their own actions
  • Agentic shift: when someone's moves from an autonomous state to an agentic state
• In Milgram's study, when interviewed many said they were just doing what they were told

  • Why do people stay agentic:

  1. possibly to maintain positive self image, allows them to be guiltless in actions
  2. social etiquette, not wanting to disobey experimenter in order to not halt the study
• • Legitimacy of authority: the condition needed to start someone's agentic shift. If orders come from someone they perceive as a actual source of power and authority, more likely to obey orders - in Milgram study, this is the experimenter, dressed in lab coats, at the prestigious Yale uni labs
• • US soldiers in Vietnam war, Village of My Lai, 1968. Village of noncombatants, elderly, women, children. Lt William Calley still ordered his men to murder all the villagers, killing 500. During military trial, Calley refused to accept guilt and said he was just carrying out orders of his superior, Capt Ernest Medina
• AO3

  • Milgram claims people shift between states of agentic and autonomous. Fails to explain gradual and irreversible transition Lifton 1986 found in his study of Auschwitz doctors. Changed irreversibly from ordinary medical professionals, concerned with patient welfare, to people capable to carrying out lethal experiments on prisoners. Staub 1989 suggests it is actually carrying out evil acts over a long time that changes the way people think, not just agentic shift
• AO3

  • Milgram believed his shift theory the most likely explanation of his studies, but did concede to possibilities. Common belief of social scientists that Milgram detected cruelty in Ps who used the experiment to carry out sadism. This supports SPE, and the guards rapid escalation despite the lack of an obvious authority figure instructing them to do so. Suggests for some, obedience can be explained by the shift, but some many see the ‘obedience’ as Ps excuse to carry out cruelty
• AO3

  • Legitimacy can serve as a basis for authorities to order atrocities, so a consequence of following authority may a a ready engagement in unquestioning obedience regardless of morality or description of actions
• AO3

  • Fennis and Aarts 2012, agentic shift more likely when one feels they have a lack of control. Increased acceptance of external control comes as a compensation for this. Demonstrated that this reduction in personal control not due to authority obedience
• AO3

  • Tarnow 2000, studied data from NTSB on all serious aircraft accidents in US from 1978 - 1990, where flight voice recorder available, and air crew actions contributed to the crash. Found often the crew excessively dependent on captain/’s expertise. Report found lack of monitoring errors in 19/37 accidents, showing real power of legitimate authority to enforce obedience of others around them