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

What is agency theory?

Agency theory says people obey by shifting from an autonomous state into an agentic state. A person in the agentic state acts for the authority and no longer feels responsible.

What is the authoritarian personality?

The authoritarian personality describes a rigid thinker with great respect for authority and hostility towards people of lower status. Adorno and colleagues linked it to a strict upbringing.

What evidence links the authoritarian personality to obedience?

People with an authoritarian personality believe orders from those in charge should be followed without question. Obedient participants in Milgram's research scored higher on the F-scale, which measures authoritarianism.

Edexcel GCSE Psychology 1PS0

Development

Topic overview Early brain development Piaget's theory of cognitive development Dweck's mindset theory and Willingham's learning theory The three mountains task and Gunderson's praise study The development of morality

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Social Influence

Topic overview Conformity to majority influence Obedience to authority Bystander intervention Crowd behaviour, society and culture Piliavin's subway study and the Stanford prison study

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Social Influence

Obedience to authority

3 things to know
Paper 1

Overview

Milgram's obedience study and its variations, agency theory, the authoritarian personality, uniform and setting, and how blind obedience can be prevented.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started

Key term

What is obedience?

Key term

How does obedience differ from conformity?

Key term

What did Milgram (1963) find about obedience to authority?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1
What is obedience?
Model answer
Obedience is following a direct order from a person in authority. The person obeying might not have acted that way without the order.
2
How does obedience differ from conformity?
Model answer
Obedience responds to a direct order from someone with higher status. Conformity responds to the unspoken pressure of a group of equals.
3
What did Milgram (1963) find about obedience to authority?
Model answer
Milgram found that 65% of his 40 male participants gave what they believed was the maximum 450-volt shock. All of the participants went to at least 300 volts.
4
What is agency theory?
Model answer
Agency theory says people obey by shifting from an autonomous state into an agentic state. A person in the agentic state acts for the authority and no longer feels responsible.
5
What is the authoritarian personality?
Model answer
The authoritarian personality describes a rigid thinker with great respect for authority and hostility towards people of lower status. Adorno and colleagues linked it to a strict upbringing.
6
What evidence links the authoritarian personality to obedience?
Model answer
People with an authoritarian personality believe orders from those in charge should be followed without question. Obedient participants in Milgram's research scored higher on the F-scale, which measures authoritarianism.

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