Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
social-psychological factors of obedience - Coggle Diagram
social-psychological factors of obedience
agentic state
obedience research started after Adolf Eichmann case for war crimes after leading Nazi death camps
defence said he was following orders
led milgram to think that destructive authority occurs when a person doesnt take responsibility as they are acting as an agent
an agent still feels anxiety etc but feel they cant disobey
autonomous state
independent or free
feel they have responsibility for their actions
autonomy to agentic = agentic shift
milgram (1974) said it happens when some one sees another person as a figure of authority
due to social hierarchy
binding factors
in original study many expressed wanting to quit but seemed unable to do so
aspects of a situation that allow an individual to ignore the damaging effect of their behaviour reducing the moral strain
shifting responsibility to victim
foolish to volunteer
deny damage they were doing to victims
research support
blass and schmitt (2001)
showed film of milgrams study to pts and asked who was responsible for the harm to the learner
blamed experimentor
due to legitimate authority and them being higher in the hierarchy
recognised legitimate authorty causing obedience supporting the explanation
limited
doesnt explain all research findings
hofflings nurses knew they were being destructive when following the doctors orders so should have shown anxiety but didnt
can only explain some cases of obedience
why some didnt obey
legitimacy of authority
many societies structued in a hierarchy
parents, teacher, police
accept and allow them them to exercise power over us so society can run smoothly
people are granted power to punish others
we are willing to give up some of our independence to them trusting they will exercise power approprietly
learnt from childhood
destructive authority
using legitimate powers for something destructive
shown in Milgrams study when experimenter used prods to get pts to act in a way against their beliefs
cultural differences
explains why some research shows different countries differ in their degree of obedience
Kilham and Mann (1974)
repeated milgrams study in austrailia and found 16% went to top voltage
some cultures authority is more likley to be accepted as legitimate so obey
this explanation suggests this is due to how the society is structured
cross-cultural research increases validity of the explanation
Mantell (1971)
germans 85%