Obedience
Obedience is when someone follows the orders given by another person.
Agency Theory
This theory proposed by Milgram gives one explanation of why people obey. According to this theory we can be in one of two states – autonomous where we have our own free will and feel responsible for the actions we carry out; or agentic – we see ourselves as an agent for another person, seeing them as responsible for the consequences of our actions. The person we obey is usually a legitimate authority figure – this can be parents, teachers and the police.
According to Milgram we have evolved to be in an agentic state. Living in social groups is important in evolutionary terms as it ensures survival. A hierarchy is necessary so that some people are leaders, while others are followers. During our early years, primary socialisation teaches us who to obey, this comes from our parents.
Although an individual may carry out the orders they have been given, they may not necessarily want to do these. This experience is known as moral strain, and is where the individual may feel uncomfortable and feel it is wrong, but do so for the greater good.
Evaluation
Supporting evidence
Milgram found that 65% of pp’s would give a shock of 450v to a person who they perceived to be another participant when prompted to by an experimenter. This supports agency theory as the experimenter was perceived to be the authority figure and they were in the agentic state.
Exam hint – give one evaluation point for supporting evidence! However a problem of this research is it is a lab experiment, this means it is an artificial task and giving electric shocks is not a realistic example of obedience. This means it lacks ecological validity and demand characteristics are likely to have occurred as pp’s may not have believed it to be real.
Meeus and Raaijmaers also found a high level of obedience. 92% of pp’s delivered insults to a person they believed to be applying for a job. This supports agency theory, as pp’s were in the agentic state and carried out the insults as they were prompted by an authority figure in the room; in the control group where no prompts were given, no insults were given.
This study took place in Holland, so provides evidence for agency theory in another culture. However Holland is not that different to the USA, and may not generalise to how collectivist cultures may behave.
Finally, Hofling also supports agency theory as 21/22 nurses would give an unknown drug to a patient when ordered to by an unknown doctor. This supports agency theory as doctors were the nurses authority figure and the nurses were agents in carrying out the order.
This study has high ecological validity as it took place in the nurses natural environment – the hospital, and they were unaware they were in a study, so the behaviour they displayed would have been natural and not influenced by demand characteristics.
Opposing evidence
Despite being put into the same situation in the experiments with an authority figure, not all pp’s obeyed. This means there may be individual differences for obedience. In Milgram’s study 35% of pp’s did not follow the orders yet had the same instructions as all the pp’s who did. This suggests there must be another reason for why people obey.
Different explanation
Disobedience can be explained by their personality. People, who are extroverts and outgoing, may be more likely to be a leader, while introverts may be quieter and blindly obey.
Obedience could also be explained by social power. French and Raven suggest there are different types – legitimate, reward, coercive (being able to punish another), expert and referent (ability to win people over). The types of power that could explain obedience in the studies rather than agency theory are legitimate power, reward power (as pp’s were being paid), coercive (in Milgram’s study they were given a test shock on themselves) expert and referent power.
Application
Agency theory can explain why real life atrocities happen. In WWII the behaviour of the Nazi’s can be explained as following the orders of an authority figure – Hitler, and they were simply in the agentic state.
However this could lead to excuses being made for bad behaviour.
It also suggests that training against blind obedience may be necessary – people should remain some autonomy to ensure such events do not occur.
Obedience is when someone follows the orders given by another person.
Agency Theory
This theory proposed by Milgram gives one explanation of why people obey. According to this theory we can be in one of two states – autonomous where we have our own free will and feel responsible for the actions we carry out; or agentic – we see ourselves as an agent for another person, seeing them as responsible for the consequences of our actions. The person we obey is usually a legitimate authority figure – this can be parents, teachers and the police.
According to Milgram we have evolved to be in an agentic state. Living in social groups is important in evolutionary terms as it ensures survival. A hierarchy is necessary so that some people are leaders, while others are followers. During our early years, primary socialisation teaches us who to obey, this comes from our parents.
Although an individual may carry out the orders they have been given, they may not necessarily want to do these. This experience is known as moral strain, and is where the individual may feel uncomfortable and feel it is wrong, but do so for the greater good.
Evaluation
Supporting evidence
Milgram found that 65% of pp’s would give a shock of 450v to a person who they perceived to be another participant when prompted to by an experimenter. This supports agency theory as the experimenter was perceived to be the authority figure and they were in the agentic state.
Exam hint – give one evaluation point for supporting evidence! However a problem of this research is it is a lab experiment, this means it is an artificial task and giving electric shocks is not a realistic example of obedience. This means it lacks ecological validity and demand characteristics are likely to have occurred as pp’s may not have believed it to be real.
Meeus and Raaijmaers also found a high level of obedience. 92% of pp’s delivered insults to a person they believed to be applying for a job. This supports agency theory, as pp’s were in the agentic state and carried out the insults as they were prompted by an authority figure in the room; in the control group where no prompts were given, no insults were given.
This study took place in Holland, so provides evidence for agency theory in another culture. However Holland is not that different to the USA, and may not generalise to how collectivist cultures may behave.
Finally, Hofling also supports agency theory as 21/22 nurses would give an unknown drug to a patient when ordered to by an unknown doctor. This supports agency theory as doctors were the nurses authority figure and the nurses were agents in carrying out the order.
This study has high ecological validity as it took place in the nurses natural environment – the hospital, and they were unaware they were in a study, so the behaviour they displayed would have been natural and not influenced by demand characteristics.
Opposing evidence
Despite being put into the same situation in the experiments with an authority figure, not all pp’s obeyed. This means there may be individual differences for obedience. In Milgram’s study 35% of pp’s did not follow the orders yet had the same instructions as all the pp’s who did. This suggests there must be another reason for why people obey.
Different explanation
Disobedience can be explained by their personality. People, who are extroverts and outgoing, may be more likely to be a leader, while introverts may be quieter and blindly obey.
Obedience could also be explained by social power. French and Raven suggest there are different types – legitimate, reward, coercive (being able to punish another), expert and referent (ability to win people over). The types of power that could explain obedience in the studies rather than agency theory are legitimate power, reward power (as pp’s were being paid), coercive (in Milgram’s study they were given a test shock on themselves) expert and referent power.
Application
Agency theory can explain why real life atrocities happen. In WWII the behaviour of the Nazi’s can be explained as following the orders of an authority figure – Hitler, and they were simply in the agentic state.
However this could lead to excuses being made for bad behaviour.
It also suggests that training against blind obedience may be necessary – people should remain some autonomy to ensure such events do not occur.