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explanations of obedience - Coggle Diagram
explanations of obedience
Milgram's study of obedience to authority
Obedience- behaviour in compliance with a direct command, often one issued by a person in a position of authority
Advertised his experiment as a memory study- 40 male pps were greeted by a man in lab coat (confederate)
Roles assigned to teacher and learner- fixed so learner was confed= strapped to electric chair.
If pp questioned responsibility = scientist would say he is responsible
If pp refused to continue administering shocks = scientist encourages them to continue through prompts
Pp led to another room containing device with electrical switches= slight shock- danger: severe shock
Task was to ask the learner qs and give electric shock for incorrect - escalating voltage
As shocks increased, pps could hear the learner's reaction from the other room and silence after 300 volts
Findings
100% of pps shocked up to 300 volts and 65% up to 450 volts
This suggest
Majority of people follow orders of an authority figure even if order leads to harm
Explanations for obedience
Agentic state
mental state in which someone sees themselves acting as
agent
- dont feel responsible for their behaviour
Autonomous state-
individual acts according to their principles (opposite to agentic state)
agentic shift-
the movement of an autonomous state to an agentic state = presence of authority figure
Legitimacy of authority
socialisation= social hierarchy = needed for society to function properly eg. police or judges
communicated through uniform and location.
Situational variables affecting obedience
Location
Milgram held study in run down office book- dropped 47.5%
Uniform
Milgram's original wore grey lab coat- swapped to someone wearing normal clothes- dropped to 20%
Proximity
increased the distance between the pp and authority figure by having figure instruct via telephone- dropped 21%
Evaluation for explanations for obedience
strengths
Weaknesses
research has multiple methodological flaws= lacks mundane realism, lacks ecological validity, demand characters( guessing the aim), gender bias, not generalisable
significant proportion= 35% resisted authority figure. cant be explained by situational factors of agentic state and legitimacy of authority
Evaluation for Milgram's research
strengths
standardised procedure= high levels of control, ensuring each pp had same experience. Enables replications by other researchers
research support
Hofling- conducted field experience in a hospital, 22 real nurses- called pretending to be a doctor saying to give a high dosage to patient, 21/22 completed it- ecological validity with mundane realism
Bickman- field experience in the ecological valid environment. approached by either milk man, guard or not in uniform. asked to pay for parking meter- 89% guard, 33% in no uniform
Weaknesses
methodological flaws= lacks mundane realism and ecological validity, acted on demand characteristics, gender bias, generisable
Unethical- difficult for them to withdraw, deception, informed consent
The Authoritarian Personality
Adorno argued high levels of obedient behaviour were dispositional due to internal traits, shaped by early in life by strict authoritarian parenting with harsh physical punishments
personality- high respect for people with social status, hostile to low status, fixed stereotypes about groups of people, conformists with conventional views, views on morality are dogmatic
F- scale= scored highly had fixed stereotypes, identify with strong people, disliked weak people
measured= authoritarian submission, power and toughess