Obedience

• What is obedience?

  A from of social influence elicited in response to direct orders from an authority figure
• Why do people obey?

  • Situational factors
  • Dispositional factors
• What are the 3 explanations for obedience?

  • Agentic state
  • Legitimacy of authority
  • Authoritarian personality
• What is an agentic state?

  • Social explanation for obedience
  • Passing responsibility onto authority figure
  • Becoming extension of authority figure
  • Lack of guilt for effect of actions under authority figure's orders
• What is legitimacy of authority?

  • Social explanation for obedience
  • Authority ranked within social hierarchies -> authority = right to give orders/consequences to others
  • High legitimacy = high authority
  • Influenced by uniform + location (social cues)
  • White lab coat = 65% obedience, normal clothes = 20% obedience (Milgram)
  • Study undertaken in run-down office building in poor neighbourhood = 17% drop in obedience from study undertaken in Yale University (Milgram)
• What are the strengths of legitimacy of authority?

  • Research support
  • Uniform + location (Milgram) -> supports that LofA = higher obedience
  • Great explanatory power
  • Nazi concentration camps, My Lai massacre, etc
  • Not all commanders/leaders/soldiers have authoritarian personalities
  • Explains what dispositional factors can't
• What are the weaknesses of legitimacy of authority?

  • Incomplete explanation of obedience
  • Authoritarian personality (Adorno 1950)
  • Judging people negatively for weakness
  • No situational variables = impossible to discern legitimacy of authority
  • Overlooks importance of social status
• What is the authoritarian personality?

  • Adorno (1950)
  • Dispositional explanation for obedience
  • Personality type -> more susceptible to authority + belief in dominance over minority groups
  • Caused by strict parents' harsh punishments = repressed anger towards parents = respect of 'strong' authority figures + resenting 'weak' minority groups (scapegoating)
  • In childhood: disobeying = punishment + rejection -> obeying parents' commands = only way to receive love
  • Likely to follow orders without hesitation from an authority figure to harm the 'weak' -> right-wing authoritarianism (Altemeyer 1996)
• What are the 3 authoritarian personality variables that result in higher levels of obedience?(Connected to right-wing authoritarianism)

  • Conventionalism = “high degree of adherence to the social conventions that are perceived to be endorsed by society and its established authorities”
  • Authoritarian aggression = “general aggressiveness directed against various people perceived to be sanctioned by established authorities
  • Authoritarian submission = high degree of submission to authorities perceived to be established + legitimate in society
  • Altemeyer 1996
• What are the strengths of the authoritarian personality?

  • Adorno's research has other research support
  • Milgram
  • Milgram + Elms
  • Adorno's ppt surveys = correlation between AP + people judging others for being weak/their social status
• What are the weaknesses of the authoritarian personality?

  • Milgram's work on situational factors contradicts dispositional factors, e.g. LofA vs AP
  • Some obedient ppts in Milgram + Elms' study reported close and loving relationships with parents -> incomplete explanation