1.6 Obedience - Situational Explanations

1.6 Obedience - Situational Explanations

1. Agentic State

   • Milgrams interest with the trial of Adolf Eichmann led him to propose that obedience to destructive authority was due to a person not taking responsibility, rather believing they are acting for someone.
   • Autonomous state
     • Opposite of the agentic state. Autonomy means independence, so they are free to behave as is according to their own moral principles and laws. They feel a responsibility for their own actions.
     • The shift from autonomy to agency is called agentic shift. Milgram (1974) suggested this occurs when a person perceives someone else as an authority figure. They believe this person has more power as they are of a higher position in the social hierachy.
   • Binding factors
     • Aspects of a situation that allow the person to ignore or minimise the damaging effects of their behaviour and thus reducing the moral strain they feel.
   • Evaluation
     • Strengths
       • Research Support
         • Milgram's own studies support the role of the agentic state in obedience. Most of his participants resisted giving shocks at one point and often questioned the procedure. When the experimenter replied "I'm responsible" the participants went through the procedure quickly.
           • Shows that when they didnt take responsibility, participants had no issues with continuing to give shocks.
     • Weaknesses
       • A limited explanation
         • Agentic shift does not explain many research findings about obedience. E.G doesnt explain Rank and Jacobsen's study. 16/18 hospital nurses disobeyed orders from a doctor to administer an excessive drug to a patient, though the doctor was an authority figure, nurses remained autonomous.
           • Agentic shift can only account for certain situations of obedience

2. Legitimacy of Authority

   • Most societies are structured in a hierarchical way, meaning certain positions hold more authority than others. We accept that authority are allowed to exercise social power over others as it allows society to run normally.
     • A consequence is that people are given the power to punish others, like police and courts have the power to punish wrongdoers.
   • Destructive authority
     • History has shown that charismatic and powerful leaders can use their legitimate power for destructive purpose, ordering people to behave in ways that cause harm and are cruel.
   • Evaluation
     • Strengths
       • Explains cultural differences
         • Shows that in some cultures, authority is more likely to be obeyed and accepted as a legitimate authority. Reflecting the way different societies are structured and how children are raised to perceive authority.
     • Weaknesses
       • Cannot explain all disobedience
         • Some people may be more or less obedient than others due to innate tendencies to disobey having a greater influence on their behaviour.