12A

1. I
N
H
O
S1
A1
S2
C1
C2
E
F
A2
B2
B1
P
L
R

2. EVALUATION OF
EXPLANATIONS TO
OBEDIENCE
• EVALUATE THE AGENTIC STATE EXPLANATION OF OBEDIENCE
• EVALUATE THE LEGITIMATE AUTHORITY EXPLANATION OF OBEDIENCE

4. RECAP
• 2 explanations for Obedience…
• 1: We enter an Agentic State
• 2: We have no doubt that they are a Legitimate Authority

5. 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

6. 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.)

7. EVALUATION OF EXPLANATIONS FOR OBEDIENCE
• Does the Agentic State explanation and the Legitimate Authority
explanation effectively explain why we obey?

8. 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.

10. 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.”

11.  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.

12.  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

13.  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…”

14.  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…

15. • … to individuals capable of lethal experimentation on
helpless prisoners

16.  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)

17.  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.

18.  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.

20.  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)

21. EVALUATION OF EXPLANATIONS FOR OBEDIENCE
• Does the Agentic State explanation and the Legitimate Authority
explanation effectively explain why we obey?

22. 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.)

23.  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)

24. 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…

25.  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.

26.  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.

27. OTHER POSSIBLE
EXPLANATIONS…
• Gradual
Commitment…
• ‘foot in the door’ –
getting someone to
obey a simple
instruction first will
increase likelihood
of further
obedience

28. 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?

29. 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

30. 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?

31. EXAM PREP…
• Outline and Evaluate one explanation of Obedience…
(6 marks)

32. 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.

33. THE AUTHORITARIAN
PERSONALITY
• DEFINE AUTHORITARIAN PERSONALITY
• DESCRIBE ADORNO’S RESEARCH (WITH F-SCALE)
• DESCRIBE RIGHT-WING AUTHORITARIANISM
• OUTLINE KEY STUDY (MILGRAM & ELM)

34. 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?

35. 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?