Psychological Explanations of Obedience
The Agentic State
Obedience – we become agents to external authority
Why do people obey
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Individuals have less responsibility for their actions
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Acting on behalf of someone else
How does this shift occur?
You go from acting autonomously to acting as an agent if seen as above you, in hierarchy
How does obedience endure?
Milgram believed that there are binding factors
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Denying the effects on others and blaming the victims
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Allow the individual to ignore or minimise the damaging effects of their behaviour
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Legitimacy to Authority
Obedience – people obey those key authority figures that have power – taught e.g. police, teachers, nightclub bouncers
Why do people obey?
Authority figures have authority as its agreed by society. People accept their level of authority as legitimate – power to punish
How does obedience develop?
We are taught from early childhood to accept orders from people of legitimate authority
What can be an issue with legitimate authority figures?
Charismatic and powerful leaders can use their legitimate powers to order people to behave in destructive, cruel and dangerous ways. The prods in Milgram’s study shows this.
Evaluation
Cultural differences in obedience can be explained
Many studies demonstrate how countries differ in the degree to which people are traditionally obedient to authority. Different cultures will have different hierarchies and different authority figures. Australian replication of Milgram’s research = 16% went to highest voltage. In Germany = 85% went to highest voltage. This is a strength for the legitimacy of authority explanation because it suggests that in different cultures the legitimacy of authority differs - different societies will be structured differently and children will grow up learning to obey different authority figures. Therefore, this means that this study supports the explanation – the assumption is that people will obey according to social hierarchy –If all people from all cultures obeyed the same than this would not be supportive of the explanation
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Doesn't Consider Locus of Control
One limitation of the psychological explanations is that it doesn’t consider the role of personality. A person may have an internal locus of control, which means that they are less likely to shift responsibility onto an authority figure because they deem themselves to be responsible for actions. This is a limitation as the agentic state suggest people are simply passive responders to authority and doesn’t take personality into account. Therefore, this means that it’s a limitation due to the fact it fails to acknowledge complex and subjective variables that can also influence obedience.