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Obedience. Majority & minority influence do not always involve a deliberate attempt to change someone’s behaviour Obedience always involves a direct attempt by one person to control another. www.psychlotron.org.uk. Obedience.
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Obedience • Majority & minority influence do not always involve a deliberate attempt to change someone’s behaviour • Obedience always involves a direct attempt by one person to control another www.psychlotron.org.uk
Obedience “Complying with or deferring to a request or order from a legitimate authority” www.psychlotron.org.uk
Studies of Obedience • Milgram (1963) • A study of destructive obedience to authority • Involved giving people orders to hurt and possibly kill an innocent stranger www.psychlotron.org.uk
“Milgram Study” video clip goes here www.psychlotron.org.uk
Variations on Milgram • Female PPs – 65% • Victim screaming – 62.5% • Visible victim – 40% • Physical contact – 30% • Experimenter absent – 22% • Run down office – 45% • Disobedient confeds – 10% • Confed gives shocks – 95% www.psychlotron.org.uk
Factors in Destructive Obedience • Several factors increase a person’s tendency to obey an authority: • Legitimacy of the authority • Social isolation • ‘Buffers’ between aggressor & victim • Gradual commitment www.psychlotron.org.uk
Agency Theory (Milgram, 1963) • People have two ways of acting • Autonomous – they direct their own behaviour, and take responsibility for the results • Agentic – they allow someone else to direct their behaviour, and assume that responsibility passes to that person www.psychlotron.org.uk
“Responsibility” video clip goes here www.psychlotron.org.uk
Agency Theory • We act agentically when the situation or social role we are in seems to demand it • E.g. when given an order by someone wearing a uniform www.psychlotron.org.uk
Resisting Obedience • Educate people • Students who knew about the Milgram research were less likely to obey in a similar study (Gross, 1992) • Remind people of their responsibilities • When Milgram’s PPs were reminded that they were responsible, almost none obeyed www.psychlotron.org.uk
Resisting Obedience • Give social support • In the ‘disobedient confeds’ version, obedience was much lower • Attack the authority’s credibility • Obedience relies on perceived legitimacy www.psychlotron.org.uk