Essay
explanation for obedience 16 marker
- Module
- Social Influence
- Institution
- AQA
Essay of 3 pages for the course Social Influence at AQA (2 AO1 4 AO3)
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One social-psychological explanation of obedience is the agentic state. In an agentic state aperson feels no personal responsibility for their actions, they are acting on behalf of another
person. The shift from autonomy to being an 'agent' is called the agentic shift and happens
when we perceive someone else as an authoritative figure and we respect their orders. This
person has power due to their social position. Binding factors are aspects of a situation that
allow the person to ignore the damaging effect of their behaviours and reduce the 'moral
strain'. For example, denying responsibility for the victim or the damage done to them.
Another social-psychological explanation of obedience is legitimacy of the authority. Most
societies are structured hierarchically. People in certain positions hold authority over the rest
of us e.g teachers, police officers etc. The authority they have is legitimate in the sense that
it is agreed by society. We mostly agree that authority figures should exercise power over
others for society to run smoothly. We give up some of our independence to people we trust
to exercise their authority properly, we learn this through childhood from our parents and
teachers. This however can become a problem when legitimate authority becomes
destructive- leaders using their power to order people to act in cruel, stupid, dangerous
ways.
A strength of the agentic state comes from supporting research evidence. Blass and Schmidt
showed students a film of Milgram's study and asked them to identify who was responsible
for the harm to the learner. Students blamed the experimenter rather than the participant,
due to the experimenter's legitimate authority as a scientist; not only was the experimenter at
the top of the hierarchy, being a scientist meant they also had expert authority. The students
recognised the authority figure as the cause of obedience thus supporting this explanation.
A limitation of this explanation however, is that there are some research findings that it
cannot explain. In research, like Milgram's, not all of the participants obeyed. Humans are
social animals and are all in social hierarchies, meaning in theory we should all obey.
Additionally, in Hofling's study, the nurses should have shown anxiety whilst giving
responsibility to the doctor, because they understood their role in a destructive process. But
this was not the case. Therefore, the agentic shift may only account for some situations of
obedience, making LOA a potentially better explanation.
A strength of legitimacy to authority is its useful account of cultural differences in obedience.
Many studies show that countries differ in the degree to which people are traditionally
obedient to authority. For example, Kilham and Mann found a 16% obedience rate in
Australians and a 85% obedience rate in Germans, in a study similar to Milgram's. This
shows that authority is more likely to be accepted as legitimate in some cultures which is a
strength as it reflects how different societies are raised to perceive authority figures in
different ways. By having supportive cross-cultural research, this explanation has increased
validity.
Furthermore, this explanation can help to explain real-life obedience. The army has authority
recognised by the government and the law. Soldiers assume orders given by the hierarchy,
to be legal; even ones to kill, rape and destroy. The legitimacy of authority explanation is
therefore able to give reasons why destructive obedience is committed.
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