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Social Influence

Obedience, agency theory and the authoritarian personality

  • 3 things to know
  • Paper 2

Overview

Milgram's obedience study and its variations, agency theory and the agentic state, the effect of authority, proximity and culture, and Adorno's authoritarian personality.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Process

Describe the procedure of Milgram's original study.

Key term

What were the main results of Milgram's original study?

Key term

What does Milgram's agency theory claim about the autonomous and agentic states?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What is obedience?

    Model answer

    Obedience is following a direct order from someone in authority. The person obeying might not have acted that way without the order.

  2. 2

    What was the aim of Milgram's original obedience study?

    Model answer

    Milgram wanted to find out whether ordinary people would obey an order to harm an innocent person. The question arose from the obedience of Germans during the Holocaust.

  3. 3

    Who took part in Milgram's original study, and where was it carried out?

    Model answer

    Milgram's participants were 40 men aged 20 to 50, recruited through a newspaper advert and paid for their time. The study took place in a laboratory at Yale University.

  4. 4

    Describe the procedure of Milgram's original study.

    Model answer

    Each participant was the teacher and gave a learner an electric shock for every wrong answer. The shocks went up in 15-volt steps from 15 to 450 volts. The learner was a confederate and was never really shocked.

  5. 5

    What were the main results of Milgram's original study?

    Model answer

    All 40 participants went to at least 300 volts. Twenty-six of the 40, or 65%, continued to the maximum 450 volts. Many showed extreme stress, such as sweating, trembling and nervous laughter.

  6. 6

    What did Milgram conclude from his original study?

    Model answer

    Milgram concluded that ordinary people will obey a legitimate authority even when it means harming someone. The situation, rather than a cruel personality, explained most of the obedience.

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