1. • ‘Ordinary people, simply doing their jobs, and without
any particular hostility on their part, can become
agents in a terrible destructive process. Moreover,
even when the destructive effects of their work
become patently clear, and they are asked to carry out
actions incompatible with fundamental standards of
morality, relatively few people have the resources
needed to resist authority.’
•
• Milgram. The Perils of Obedience, 1974.
2. MILGRAM RECAP…
• Voltage went up in ____v increments
• The ‘__________’ was actually a confederate of the study
• The ‘teacher’ was given a ‘tester’ shock of _____v at the
beginning of the study
• ____% of ppts went to 300v
• ____% of ppts went to 450volts
• ____% were originally predicted to go to 450volts
4. VARIATION 1
• The experiment took place in a run down office building
• Higher or lower obedience rate?
• 48%
5. VARIATION 2
• The teacher and learner were
in the same room
• Higher or lower obedience
rate than the original?
• 40%
6. VARIATION 3
• The teacher had to force the learners
hand down on to the shock plate
• Higher or lower obedience rate than
the original?
• 30%
7. VARIATION 4
• Experimenter gave instructions to the teacher over the
phone
• Higher or lower obedience rate than the original?
• 20%
8. VARIATION 5
• Participants worked in groups to shock the learner. Two
rebelled and refused to go on
• Higher or lower obedience rate than the original?
• 10%
9. VARIATION 6
• Someone else administered the shock
• Higher or lower obedience rate than the original?
• 92.5%
10. BUSHMAN, (1988)
• Female researcher dressed in either a police uniform, a business
executive or a homeless person.
• She stopped people in the street and asked them to give change to
a male confederate at a parking metre
12. WHY??
• Uniform = Legitimacy
Unnecessary to question the status of the authority figure.
13. ECOLOGICAL VALIDITY OF OBEDIENCE RESEARCH…
• Mandel (1998)
Challenges the relevance of obedience research as an explanation of real-life
atrocities. On 13th July 1942, in Jozefow, Poland, the men of Reserve Batallion
101 received orders to carry out a mass killing of Jews. Their commanding
officer, Major Wilhelm Trapp, made an offer to his men that anyone who
‘didn’t feel up to this duty’ could be assigned other duties.
Despite the presence of factors shown by Milgram to increase defiance
(e.g. close proximity to victim; presence of disobedient peers) only a small
minority took up Trapp’s offer. The vast majority carried out their orders
without protest.
14. EXAM PREP…
• Outline what Milgram did in his study of obedience and the
findings of this study (6 Marks)
• Explain the role of Proximity as a variable affecting Obedience
(3 marks)
• Explain the role of Uniform as a variable affecting Obedience
(3 marks)
15. AGENTIC STATE &
LEGITIMACY OF
AUTHORITY…
OUTLINE AND EVALUATE ‘AGENTIC STATE’ THEORY OF OBEDIENCE
OUTLINE AND EVALUATE ‘LEGITIMATE AUTHORITY’ THEORY OF OBEDIENCE
16. SO WHY DID WE OBEY AT THE DETRIMENT OF
OTHERS?
• 2 Explanations…
• 1. Agentic State
• 2. Legitimate Authority
17. Milgram proposed that 1 reason so many ppts went
to 450v is because they were no longer behaving as
an individual, but an agent of the authority figure
18. • “Allowing others to direct your actions and passing the
responsibility to the person giving the orders”
AGENTIC STATE
19. AGENTIC SHIFT
• Moving from a state of autonomy to an
agentic state
• You feel less responsible for your own actions
and behave as an ‘agent’ to the authority
figure
20. WHY DO WE ADOPT AN AGENTIC STATE?
• We constantly try to maintain a ‘positive self-image’.
• Electrocuting an innocent person does not reflect very
well on our positive self images.
21. WHY DO WE ADOPT AN AGENTIC STATE?
• However, when an individual has adopted an Agentic
State, their actions are no longer their responsibility…
• …so they no longer reflect on their self-image.
22. WHY WAS IT SO HARD TO LEAVE THE EXPERIMENT?
• Binding Factors are things that tie you into certain situations
• Guilt
• Not wanting to appear rude/arrogant
• Unwillingness to break commitment to experimenter.
24. EXPECTATION OF AUTHORITY
• Milgram (1974) believed that there is a shared
expectation among people that many situations do have a
socially controlling figure.
• Therefore ppts expected an authority figure when they
entered the lab.
25. DEFINITIONS OF A SITUATION
• We have a tendency to accept definitions of a
situation that are provided by legitimate authorities
• We believe they know best.
26. DEFINITIONS OF A SITUATION
• Experimenter remained calm = must be fine
• Urged ppt. to continue = must be important
27. REQUIRES AN INSTITUTION
• When the orders from the Legitimate Authority are to
harm another person, there needs to be an institution
context for ppts to obey.
29. OUTLINE THE ROLE OF THE AGENTIC STATE IN OBEDIENCE,
(4 MARKS)
• 6x A01
• 3x Agentic State – (Agentic Shift; Self-image; Binding Factors)
• 3x Legitimate Authority – (Expectation; Definition of
Situation; Requires institution)
30. • One explanation of obedience is the Agentic State theory. This theorises that
we obey commands from an authority figure because of reduced feelings of
control or autonomy in our actions and increased perception of working as an
agent for the authority figure (Agentic Shift). This reduces the amount of
responsibility we hold over our actions and once in this agentic state, we are
likely to obey further demands due to binding factors such as fear of breaking a
commitment or appearing arrogant in reusing to obey.
31. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU WOULD WRITE DOWN
FOR THIS QUESTION?
4 marks
