Outline and evaluate one or more explanations of why people
obey (16)
A01:
One reason why people obey is due to social-psychological factors. Milgram
proposed the agentic theory which states we act as a representative of
someone in authority and blindly obey, finding it easier to deny personal
responsibility. The individual shifts from an autonomous state to an agentic
and will blame others when behaving against their morals. They will also
struggle to stop obeying due to binding factors. For example, in Milgram’s
study, the experimenter would tell the participant that it’s essential they
carry on giving shocks, preventing them from withdrawing from the
experiment. Participants usually act with obedience due to perceiving the
authoritative figure with a sense of legitimate authority. Legitimacy of
authority means we are willing to give up some of our individual liberties, and
hand control over to people we trust to exercise their authority appropriately,
and is usually affected by situational variables like uniform.
Another explanation for why people obey is due to dispositional factors.
Adorno proposed the authoritarian personality which characterises someone
with conservative values who is likely to obey easier to authority figures. He
developed the F-scale, a questionnaire testing unconscious attitudes towards
minorities. There was a strong correlation between those showing obedience
to authority and those who revealed strict parenting styles in childhood,
where their fear towards their parents is displaced onto those weaker.
A03:
A strength of the agentic theory is Milgram provides research support from
his experiment. The participants in his study blamed the experimenter,
believing they were agents of authority. And so, most people went to the full
350V as they took no personal agency and believed all responsibility was
shifted to the experimenter. This increases the validity of the explanation as
Milgram’s research provides a useful account to why people obey in the
presence of an authoritative figure.
Despite this, a weakness of the agentic theory is that it is a socially sensitive
concept. For example, using this logic, Nazi soldiers were in an agentic state
as they believed Hitler would take responsibility for their actions. This can be
a harmful idea which runs the risk of trivialising genocide. Thus, this is a
weakness as it highlights how authority can turn destructive, where figures
use their power for malicious purposes, ordering others to behave in callous
ways.
A weakness of Adorno’s theory of dispositional factors is there are issues with
the methodology used. The F-scale was only tested on white US males and so
the results are not generalisable, and the study lacks population validity. In
addition, the theory only provides a limited explanation and cannot explain
obedient behaviour across many populations. For example, millions of
citizens and soldiers in Germany displayed antisemitic behaviour during
obey (16)
A01:
One reason why people obey is due to social-psychological factors. Milgram
proposed the agentic theory which states we act as a representative of
someone in authority and blindly obey, finding it easier to deny personal
responsibility. The individual shifts from an autonomous state to an agentic
and will blame others when behaving against their morals. They will also
struggle to stop obeying due to binding factors. For example, in Milgram’s
study, the experimenter would tell the participant that it’s essential they
carry on giving shocks, preventing them from withdrawing from the
experiment. Participants usually act with obedience due to perceiving the
authoritative figure with a sense of legitimate authority. Legitimacy of
authority means we are willing to give up some of our individual liberties, and
hand control over to people we trust to exercise their authority appropriately,
and is usually affected by situational variables like uniform.
Another explanation for why people obey is due to dispositional factors.
Adorno proposed the authoritarian personality which characterises someone
with conservative values who is likely to obey easier to authority figures. He
developed the F-scale, a questionnaire testing unconscious attitudes towards
minorities. There was a strong correlation between those showing obedience
to authority and those who revealed strict parenting styles in childhood,
where their fear towards their parents is displaced onto those weaker.
A03:
A strength of the agentic theory is Milgram provides research support from
his experiment. The participants in his study blamed the experimenter,
believing they were agents of authority. And so, most people went to the full
350V as they took no personal agency and believed all responsibility was
shifted to the experimenter. This increases the validity of the explanation as
Milgram’s research provides a useful account to why people obey in the
presence of an authoritative figure.
Despite this, a weakness of the agentic theory is that it is a socially sensitive
concept. For example, using this logic, Nazi soldiers were in an agentic state
as they believed Hitler would take responsibility for their actions. This can be
a harmful idea which runs the risk of trivialising genocide. Thus, this is a
weakness as it highlights how authority can turn destructive, where figures
use their power for malicious purposes, ordering others to behave in callous
ways.
A weakness of Adorno’s theory of dispositional factors is there are issues with
the methodology used. The F-scale was only tested on white US males and so
the results are not generalisable, and the study lacks population validity. In
addition, the theory only provides a limited explanation and cannot explain
obedient behaviour across many populations. For example, millions of
citizens and soldiers in Germany displayed antisemitic behaviour during
