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Explain situational explanations for obedience (16)
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“Explain situational explanations for obedience.”A situational variable is defined as any aspect of the environment or enviromental situation
that affects the rate of social influence in individuals and their decision to exhibit certain
behaviours. Milgram proposed a situational explanation of obedience that suggested
obedience to destructive authority occurs when an individual does not take responsibility for
their own behaviour in a situation caused by what is known as the “agentic shift.” Agency is
the opposite of autonomy- which is defined as being independent or free. Therefore, agency
is simply acting as an “agent” of another individuals, obeying their demands and accepting
their desires. This agenic shift occurs as the result of social hierarchies- when a person
perceives that another individual has a higher authority than them, they shift the
consequences of their behaviours onto this individual and act as their agent, thus freeing
them from any consequences or moral strains produced as the result of their behaviours.
Binding factors of the situation allow the individual to escape the consequences that their
behaviour generates through a number of strategies.
Research support for the agentic state originates from Milgram’s own study into obedience.
Participants frequently asked the experimenter who is responsible for the consequences of
the electric shock, to which the experimenter would confirm they are responsible, not the
participant. This binding confirmation allowed the participants to shift into agency,
alongside shifting the moral consequences for their behaviour onto the experimenter, and
would conduct the research with no further complaints. Therefore, Milgram’s own research
provides evidence to support such claims, increasing the internal validity of the explanation.
However, the agentic shift has been contradicted by further research. Research findings
demonstrated that 16/18 of nurses refused to administer an excessive drug dose to a patient
despite a doctor, an obvious authority figure, instructing them to do so. Despite this, the
nurses remained autonomous, which suggests that disposition may have an influence that is
greater than situational factors within certain conditions. This contradicts the agentic state
theory and thus reduces the validity of the explanation.
The alternate situational explanation for obedience considers the role that the hierarchy
itself may have on behaviour. Legitimacy of authority suggests that we are more likely to
obey people that have greater authority over us, which depends on our perception and
judgment of authority within a situation. If we perceive an individual to have a greater
authority then us based on any social hierarchy, then we are more likely to obey their
instructions. This perception is based on a multitude of factors that include uniform and
environment. It is generally accepted in society that those in positions higher than us in the
social hierarchy maintain the ability to punish those below, such as within legal systems.
Problems arise within this when legitimate authority becomes destructive, which has been
evidently demonstrated through history with leaders abusing their positions of percieved
greater authority.
A strength of legitimacy of authority as an explanation of obedience is that it is able to
explain cross-cultural differences. Many studies have illustrated that the way that individuals
from different countries respond to authority varies- with a minority of Australian woman
administering the 450V compared to 80% of german participants. This shows the effect that
culture and resulting perception and respect of authority can have on obedience, and thus
increases the real life-applicability of the explanation.
However, a limitation of legitimacy of authority is that it is unable to explain instances of
disobedience. In situations where there is a structured and evident social hierarchy, and
disobedience occurs, the explanation falls apart- this can apply to the research into nurses
where 16/18 disobeyed despite the clear perception of doctors being of higher authority,
alongside Milgram’s research where despite the authority of the experimenter participants
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