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EVALUATION OF EXPLANATIONS TO

OBEDIENCE• EVALUATE THE AGENTIC STATE EXPLANATION OF OBEDIENCE

• EVALUATE THE LEGITIMATE AUTHORITY EXPLANATION OF OBEDIENCE

RECAP

• 2 explanations for Obedience…

• 1: We enter an Agentic State

• 2: We have no doubt that they are a Legitimate Authority

AGENTIC STATE…

• We believe we are acting as an agent to the authority figure

• We undergo an Agentic shift from autonomy to having no control

• When in an agentic state we believe our actions no longer reflect on our positive self image

• Obedience is particularly likely to occur if there are binding factors

LEGITIMATE AUTHORITY

• Occurs when we have no doubt of the status of the authority figure

• When entering certain situations we are already expecting an individual to have social control

• We look to Legitimate Authorities to define a situation (and trust them)!

• To believe in a Legitimate Authority, they need to be involved within an institution (scientific research, miltary, police, etc.)

EVALUATION OF EXPLANATIONS FOR OBEDIENCE

• Does the Agentic State explanation and the Legitimate Authority explanation effectively explain why we obey?

AGENTIC STATE…

• In 1968, in the village of My Lai during the Vietnam war, soldiers found a village full of non-combatants; (old men, women & children) when

they had been expecting Vietcong (North Vietnamese) fighters.

• Lt. William Calley, platoon commander, ordered his men to murder the unarmed villagers

• Every member of the platoon carried out Calley’s orders without question and over the course of 2 hours, 500 villagers were killed.

AGENTIC STATE…

• “I was ordered to go in there and destroy the enemy. That was my job that day. That was the mission I was given. I did not sit down and think in terms of men, women, and children. They were all classified as the same, and that's the classification that we dealt with over there, just as the enemy. I felt then and I still do that I acted as I was directed, and I carried out the order that I was given and I do not feel wrong in doing so.”

AGENTIC STATE ALLOWS REMOVAL OF BLAME

• Many cases of military violence is excused with the phrase ‘I was only following orders’

It is too simplistic and removes the individual’s morality.

AGENTIC SHIFT DOESN’T EXPLAIN GRADUAL CHANGES IN BEHAVIOUR

• Milgram claimed that we shift rapidly from an autonomous to an agentic state

• He claims there is not a high level of cognition that accompanies this switch

AGENTIC SHIFT DOESN’T EXPLAIN GRADUAL CHANGES IN BEHAVIOUR

• Hippocratic Oath…

• An moral code of conduct for doctors

• “…I swear to treat the ill to the best of my ability…”

AGENTIC SHIFT DOESN’T EXPLAIN GRADUAL CHANGES IN BEHAVIOUR

• Lifton (1986) interviewed German doctors who had worked in Auschwitz during the War.

• He found that these medical professionals had shifted from ordinary doctors concerned with the welfare of their patients…

• … to individuals capable of lethal experimentation on helpless prisoners

AGENTIC SHIFT DOESN’T EXPLAIN GRADUAL CHANGES IN BEHAVIOUR

• “It is not an automatic ‘Agentic Shift’ but the experience of carrying out acts of evil over a long time gradually changes the way

people think & behave”

• Lifton (1986)

AGENTIC STATE OR JUST PLAIN CRUEL?!

• Not only does the Agentic State remove blame, it also fails to address the acts committed as being cruel in nature.

• Individuals may use these opportunities as an excuse to engage in violent behaviour.

AGENTIC STATE OR JUST PLAIN CRUEL?!

• Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment (1971) highlighted the possibility that individual’s use

these situations to express their own violent and sadistic impulses.

AGENTIC STATE CAN BE APPLIED TO OTHER FORMS OF SOCIAL INFLUENCE

• One possible reason for ‘Agentic Shift’ is a reduction in the feeling of being in control.

• In these situations, we have an increased acceptance of external sources of control and an over-reliance on others.

• This can be seen in real-life cases of Obedience as well as Bystander Apathy, (compliance with others)

EVALUATION OF EXPLANATIONS FOR OBEDIENCE

• Does the Agentic State explanation and the Legitimate Authority explanation effectively explain why we obey?

LEGITIMATE AUTHORITY

• Occurs when we have no doubt of the status of the authority figure

• When entering certain situations we are already expecting an individual to have social control

• We look to Legitimate Authorities to define a situation (and trust them)!

• To believe in a Legitimate Authority, they need to be involved within an institution (scientific research, miltary, police, etc.)

TOO SIMPLISTIC…

• Is it too simplistic to say we obey on the sole belief that they really are an authority figure.

• Doesn’t explain deviancy (people not obeying perceived authority figures)

EVALUATION OF LEGITIMATE AUTHORITY

• There are some positive consequences of obeying a legitimate authority (i.e. following instruction from a police officer in an emergency)

• However, Legitimacy of an authority figure can also serve as the basis for justifying harming others…

EXPLAINS REAL LIFE OBEDIENCE…

• History has demonstrated examples of unquestioning obedience to authority no matter how destructive the actions.

• This obedience is reflected in military training which reinforce the structure of military authority.

SUPPORTED BY REAL-WORLD EXAMPLES

• Tarnow (2000) studied data of all plane crashes in the U.S between 1978-1990 where a black box was available and crew actions were a contributing factor to the crash.

• Tarnow found that in 19 out of 37 crashes, there was excessive obedience to the captain, despite questioning his/her actions.

OTHER POSSIBLE EXPLANATIONS…

• Gradual Commitment…

• ‘foot in the door’ –getting someone to obey a simple instruction first will increase likelihood of further obedience

OTHER EXPLANATIONS FOR OBEDIENCE…

• 1. What real-life examples can you think of which incorporate gradual commitment with obedience?

• 2. How was gradual commitment applied in Milgram’s experiment?

OTHER POSSIBLE EXPLANATIONS…

• Dehumanisation…

We are more likely to inflict harm on someone if we can distance ourselves from the victim…

We can achieve this by removing the person’s identity and taking away their ‘human’ quality

OTHER EXPLANATIONS OF OBEDIENCE

• How are prisoners in the Abu Ghraib torture camp dehumanised?

• How was this dehumanisation reflected in Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment?

EXAM PREP…

• Outline and Evaluate one explanation of Obedience…

(6 marks)

THE LEGITIMATE AUTHORITY EXPLANATION…

• One explanation of obedience is the Legitimate Authority explanation. This explains obedience as a result of holding no doubts over the legitimacy of the authority figure giving the orders. It suggests we approach most situations seeking out an authority figure with social control and we look to these figures to define the situation we’re in.

• This is supported in Milgram’s experiment and suggests why so many ppt’s may have obeyed due to the experimenter in the lab coat and in a scientific setting remaining calm despite hearing the distress from the ‘learner’. It would also explain the drop in obedience when the experiment was conducted in a down-town office as it removes this legitimacy. This explanation can also be applied to real life examples of obedience such as military discipline which incorporates emphasis on the status of the authority officers within troops.

THE AUTHORITARIAN PERSONALITY

• DEFINE AUTHORITARIAN PERSONALITY

• DESCRIBE ADORNO’S RESEARCH (WITH F-SCALE)

• DESCRIBE RIGHT-WING AUTHORITARIANISM

• OUTLINE KEY STUDY (MILGRAM & ELM)

NOT WANTING TO HARM OTHERS VS. OBEDIENCE…

• In Milgram’s original study, why were some ppts relatively unscathed following the experiment whereas some ppts

experienced high levels of distress?

INDEPENDENT RESEARCH…

• Research the ‘Authoritarian Personality’

• Produce a (max 250 word) piece of coursework explaining..

• What is an authoritarian personality?

• Who is Adorno and what did he find?

• How might this explain individual differences in Milgram’s study?