Flashcards
Obedience: Social-psychological factors
Cards in this deck (15)
- 1What is agentic stateIt's a mental state where we feel no personal responsibility for our behaviour because we believe ourselves to be acting for an authority figure, i.e. as their agent
- Frees us from our conscious and allows us to disobey even a destructive authority - 2Why did Milgram take an interest in obedience?Due to the trial of Adolf Eichmann for war crimes - his defence was he was only obeying orders
- 3Do people who feel they are acting as agents feel anxiety?Yes, they don't feel completely detached from the situation but they feel powerless to disobey
- 4What does autonomous state refer to?It is the opposite of agentic state as it means independent or free.
They feel a sense of responsibility for their own actions - 5The shift from autonomy to agency is called the ...Agentic shift
- 6When does the agentic shift occur?- When a person perceives someone else as a figure of authority
- The other person has power due to their position in a social hierarchy
- When one person is in charge, others defer from autonomy to agency - 7What is a binding factor?- This is aspects of the situation that allow the person to ignore or minimise the damaging effect of their behaviour
- Milgram suggests that there's strategies an individual uses to shift responsibility to the victim - e.g. he was foolish to volunteer, or I'm not hurting them - 8What is legitimacy of authority?It's an explanation for obedience which suggests that we are more likely to obey people who were perceive to have authority over us.
This authority is justified by the individuals position of power within a social hierarchy - 9Who are examples of legitimate authority figures?Police, teachers and parents
- 10What is destructive authority?History shows that charismatic leaders can use their legitimate powers for destructive purposes e.g. Hitler and Stalin
- 11EVALUATION Strength of agentic state: (Supporting research)Blass and Schmitt (2001) showed a film of Milgram's study to students and asked them to identify who they felt responsible for the harm to the learner.
The students blamed the 'experimenter' rather than the participant.
They recognised legitimate authority as the cause of obedience - 12EVALUATION Weakness of agentic state: (Limited explanation)Agentic shift doesn't explain many research findings - why some did not obey
Hofling et al - Nurses passing on responsibility to doctors showed no anxiety - whereas this explanation predicts there will be anxiety
-So, this can only explain some situations - 13EVALUATION Strength of legitimacy of authority: (Cultural differences)Legitimacy of authority explains obedience in other cultures because it reflects their social hierarchies
Australia - only 16% of pps went to the highest voltage
Germany - 85% went to the highest voltage
This shows that in some cultures authority is accepted as legitimate and demands more obedience from individuals
Reflects how people are raised and societies are structured - increased validity - 14EVALUATION Limitation of agentic state: (Obedience alibi)Research evidence to show that behaviour of the Nazi's cannot be explained through authority and agentic shift
One instant where men obeyed orders to shoot civilians in Poland
They didn't have direct orders to do this so this challenges agentic shift - explain? - 15EVALUATION Strength of legitimacy of authority: (Real life crimes of obedience)Can help explain what led to real life war crimes
My Lai massacre can be understood in terms of hierarchy in the US army (only one soldier was found guilty - the commanding officer)
- Practical application
- Help in the future e.g. education and training
Information
- Description
- A-Level Psychology Year 1 (Social Influence) Flashcards on Obedience: Social-psychological factors, created by Mollie Thompson on 12/05/2017.
- Created by
- Mollie Thompson
- Views
- 5
- Rating