Obedience

Question 1

obedience

Answer 1

our willingness to follow the orders of someone in a position of authority over us

Question 2

factors affecting obedience (5)

Answer 2

• perceived legitimate authority
• socialisation
• parenting
• autonomous/agentic behaviour
• situational factors

Question 3

Perceived legitimate authority

Answer 3

when we think someone has the authority to tell us what to do, generally, we will obey.

Question 4

socialisation

Answer 4

• the effect of childhood experiences on making us behave according to social norms
• result of social pressures from family, teachers and peers

Question 5

parenting

Answer 5

• democratic: children are encouraged to think for themselves and negotiate boundaries
• authoritarian: obedience to parents and authority, rules should be obeyed not questioned

Question 6

autonomous/agentic behaviour

Answer 6

• autonomous: seeing yourself as in charge and following your own wishes
• agentic: seeing another person as in power and acting on behalf of them

Question 7

Situational factors

Answer 7

• proximity
• location
• uniform

Question 8

situational factor: proximity

Answer 8

• in a variation of Milgram’s experiment, the experimenter left the room and gave all instructions over the phone
• this reduced obedience, making participants more likely to defy the experimenter

Question 9

situational factor: location

Answer 9

• a variation of Milgram’s experiment was carried out in a run down office rather than Yale
• obedience rated dropped
• less prestigious locations reduce obedience

Question 10

situational factor: uniform

Answer 10

• Bickman’s experiment used 3 actors dressed as a security guard, a milkman and a normal person
• actors asked members of the public to follow random instructions
• people more likely to follow the instructions of the security guard