Obedience
Saturday, 20 September 2025 13:42
Social-psychological factors Dispositional explanations
Agentic state: Adorno et al (1950)
- An ‘agent’ is someone who acts for or in place of another Procedure
- They believe that they’re acting for someone else - Investigated the cause of obedience using 2000 middle class white Americans and their unconscious
- They experience high anxiety as they know the action is wrong but feel powerless to disobey attitudes towards other social groups
- The ‘agentic state’ is a mental state where we feel no responsibility for our behaviour as we believe - Developed the fascism scale (F-scale) to measure authoritarian personality
were acting for an authority figure as their agent Findings
- This frees us from the demands of our conscious and allows us to obey even a destructive authority - Those with authoritarian learnings identified with ‘strong’ people and were contempt with ‘weak’
figure people
- They were conscious of their own and others status, showing excessive respect and servility to those of
Autonomous state higher status
- Authoritarian people had a cognitive style with no ‘grey’ areas between categories of people and had
- A person in an ‘autonomous state’ is free and independent to behave accordingly to their own principles
fixed and distinct stereotypes about other groups
- The shift from autonomy to agency is the agentic shift
Milgram (1974) - states this occurs when a person perceives someone else as a figure of authority - There was a strong correlation between authoritarianism and prejudice
- The person has greater power or is in a position of authority because of their social hierarchy
Examples from the list
- Obedience and respect for authority are the most important virtues children should learn
Binding factors
- There is hardly anything lower than a person who doesn’t feel a great love, gratitude and respect for
- Aspects of the situation that allow the person to ignore or minimise the damaging effect of their
their parents
behaviour, which in turn reduces the moral strain
- Milgram stated that individuals used strategies such as shifting the responsibility to the victim
Authoritarian characteristics
- Tend to be obedient to authority
Evaluation - Have extreme respect and are submissive to authority
Research support
- Show contempt towards people who they perceive as being inferior
Blass and Schmitt (2001) - showed a film of Milgram’s study and asked ppts to identify who was responsible
- Have conventional attitudes towards sex, race and gender
for the harm to the learner
- They believe we need strong and powerful leaders to enforce traditional values, such as patriotism and
- The students blamed the experimenter rather than the ppts love for religion and family
- They also stated that responsibility was due to legitimate authority and expert authority which can
- These people are inflexible of their outlook, things are black and white, they’re dogmatic
cause obedience
Origin of authoritarian personality
Limited explanation
- Adorno et al (1950) - concluded that it formed in childhood, as a result of harsh parenting
- Agentic shift doesn’t explain why some ppts didn’t obey or those from Hofling et al’s and Rank and
- Characterised by conditional love from parents = get love from authority when doing something the
Jacobson studies
parents wanted, love depends on how the child behaves
- Agentic shift at only account for some situations of obedience
- Adorno argues that these experiences cause resentment but the child wont express these feelings
towards the parent due to the fear of consequence
Legitimacy of authority - Feelings are displaced onto others who are deemed as weak, known as scapegoating - psychodynamic
- Most societies are structured in a hierarchical way, we are used to certain positions holding authority explanation
- This is legitimate as it’s agreed by society and we accept that authority figures can exercise their power
- A consequence is that some are granted powers to punish others
Evaluation
- We learn to accept the authority from a young age from parents, teachers, etc
Limited explanation
- Any attempt to explain obedience based on personality will always be difficult
Destructive authority - Pre-war Germany = many people displayed obedient, racist and anti-Semitic behaviour despite having
- Problems arise when legitimacy of authority becomes destructive different personalities
- History has shown how powerful leaders can use their power for destructive purpose by ordering people - Social identity theory (Tajifel, 1970) - describes the conditions under which social identity becomes
to behave in certain ways - Hitler and how he led the Nazi party more important than one’s identity as an individual
- Destructive authority was clear in Milgram’s study when the experimenter used prods to get the ppts to
behave in a certain way Methodological problems
- Greenstein (1969) - describes the F-scale as a ‘comedy of methodological errors’
Evaluation - E.g. the scale has come in for severe criticism because every one of its items is worded in the same
Cultural differences ‘direction’. This means its possible to get a high score for authoritarianism just by ticking the same line
- Legitimacy of authors is a useful explanation for cultural differences of obedience of boxes down one side of the page
- Kilham and Mann (1974) - replicated milgram’s study in Australia and found 16% of ppts went all the - People who agree with the items on the F-scale aren’t necessarily authoritarian but ‘acquiesces’
way to the top voltage - The scale is just measuring the tendency to agree with everything
- Mantell (1971) - replicated this on German ppts and found 85% of ppts obeyed the orders
- Some cultures are more accepting of authority and recognise the legitimacy of this Research support
Milgram and Elms (1966) - conducted interviews with a small sample of fully obedient ppts who scored
highly on the F-scale
- They believe there was a link between obedience and authoritarian personality
- Just a correlation of the two variables which makes it impossible to draw conclusions
Hyman and Sheatsley (1954) - a third factor? May be linked with a low level of education
Political bias
- F-scale shows tendencies towards extreme right-wing ideology, this is what the F-scale measures
according to Rokeach (1960)
- Christie and Johada (1954) - this political bias is a form of authoritarian personality
- Left-wing ideologies require complete obedience to legitimate political authority
- Adorno’s theory doesn’t provide a comprehensive understanding of the whole political spectrum
Saturday, 20 September 2025 13:42
Social-psychological factors Dispositional explanations
Agentic state: Adorno et al (1950)
- An ‘agent’ is someone who acts for or in place of another Procedure
- They believe that they’re acting for someone else - Investigated the cause of obedience using 2000 middle class white Americans and their unconscious
- They experience high anxiety as they know the action is wrong but feel powerless to disobey attitudes towards other social groups
- The ‘agentic state’ is a mental state where we feel no responsibility for our behaviour as we believe - Developed the fascism scale (F-scale) to measure authoritarian personality
were acting for an authority figure as their agent Findings
- This frees us from the demands of our conscious and allows us to obey even a destructive authority - Those with authoritarian learnings identified with ‘strong’ people and were contempt with ‘weak’
figure people
- They were conscious of their own and others status, showing excessive respect and servility to those of
Autonomous state higher status
- Authoritarian people had a cognitive style with no ‘grey’ areas between categories of people and had
- A person in an ‘autonomous state’ is free and independent to behave accordingly to their own principles
fixed and distinct stereotypes about other groups
- The shift from autonomy to agency is the agentic shift
Milgram (1974) - states this occurs when a person perceives someone else as a figure of authority - There was a strong correlation between authoritarianism and prejudice
- The person has greater power or is in a position of authority because of their social hierarchy
Examples from the list
- Obedience and respect for authority are the most important virtues children should learn
Binding factors
- There is hardly anything lower than a person who doesn’t feel a great love, gratitude and respect for
- Aspects of the situation that allow the person to ignore or minimise the damaging effect of their
their parents
behaviour, which in turn reduces the moral strain
- Milgram stated that individuals used strategies such as shifting the responsibility to the victim
Authoritarian characteristics
- Tend to be obedient to authority
Evaluation - Have extreme respect and are submissive to authority
Research support
- Show contempt towards people who they perceive as being inferior
Blass and Schmitt (2001) - showed a film of Milgram’s study and asked ppts to identify who was responsible
- Have conventional attitudes towards sex, race and gender
for the harm to the learner
- They believe we need strong and powerful leaders to enforce traditional values, such as patriotism and
- The students blamed the experimenter rather than the ppts love for religion and family
- They also stated that responsibility was due to legitimate authority and expert authority which can
- These people are inflexible of their outlook, things are black and white, they’re dogmatic
cause obedience
Origin of authoritarian personality
Limited explanation
- Adorno et al (1950) - concluded that it formed in childhood, as a result of harsh parenting
- Agentic shift doesn’t explain why some ppts didn’t obey or those from Hofling et al’s and Rank and
- Characterised by conditional love from parents = get love from authority when doing something the
Jacobson studies
parents wanted, love depends on how the child behaves
- Agentic shift at only account for some situations of obedience
- Adorno argues that these experiences cause resentment but the child wont express these feelings
towards the parent due to the fear of consequence
Legitimacy of authority - Feelings are displaced onto others who are deemed as weak, known as scapegoating - psychodynamic
- Most societies are structured in a hierarchical way, we are used to certain positions holding authority explanation
- This is legitimate as it’s agreed by society and we accept that authority figures can exercise their power
- A consequence is that some are granted powers to punish others
Evaluation
- We learn to accept the authority from a young age from parents, teachers, etc
Limited explanation
- Any attempt to explain obedience based on personality will always be difficult
Destructive authority - Pre-war Germany = many people displayed obedient, racist and anti-Semitic behaviour despite having
- Problems arise when legitimacy of authority becomes destructive different personalities
- History has shown how powerful leaders can use their power for destructive purpose by ordering people - Social identity theory (Tajifel, 1970) - describes the conditions under which social identity becomes
to behave in certain ways - Hitler and how he led the Nazi party more important than one’s identity as an individual
- Destructive authority was clear in Milgram’s study when the experimenter used prods to get the ppts to
behave in a certain way Methodological problems
- Greenstein (1969) - describes the F-scale as a ‘comedy of methodological errors’
Evaluation - E.g. the scale has come in for severe criticism because every one of its items is worded in the same
Cultural differences ‘direction’. This means its possible to get a high score for authoritarianism just by ticking the same line
- Legitimacy of authors is a useful explanation for cultural differences of obedience of boxes down one side of the page
- Kilham and Mann (1974) - replicated milgram’s study in Australia and found 16% of ppts went all the - People who agree with the items on the F-scale aren’t necessarily authoritarian but ‘acquiesces’
way to the top voltage - The scale is just measuring the tendency to agree with everything
- Mantell (1971) - replicated this on German ppts and found 85% of ppts obeyed the orders
- Some cultures are more accepting of authority and recognise the legitimacy of this Research support
Milgram and Elms (1966) - conducted interviews with a small sample of fully obedient ppts who scored
highly on the F-scale
- They believe there was a link between obedience and authoritarian personality
- Just a correlation of the two variables which makes it impossible to draw conclusions
Hyman and Sheatsley (1954) - a third factor? May be linked with a low level of education
Political bias
- F-scale shows tendencies towards extreme right-wing ideology, this is what the F-scale measures
according to Rokeach (1960)
- Christie and Johada (1954) - this political bias is a form of authoritarian personality
- Left-wing ideologies require complete obedience to legitimate political authority
- Adorno’s theory doesn’t provide a comprehensive understanding of the whole political spectrum
