Evaluation points: Explanations of Obedience

Agentic state

Milgram’s participants knew it was wrong but put the responsibility on the experimenter
At the Nuremberg Trials many Nazis said they were just following orders
It explains why some people do not obey – they have stayed in the autonomous state
A weakness is that there is no evidence that this shift takes place and it cannot be measured.
The theory is vague and does not explain fully why or how the shift takes place.
One way in which the shift can be reversed is through empathy – in Milgram’s study a woman who had lived in Nazi Germany was woken from her agentic state by painful memories, and empathising with the learner.
For the agentic shift to take place, the participant also has to trust in the authority of the experimenter. If this were to be removed, it would awaken them from their agentic state, as seen in Gamson’s study.
Gradual Commitment
Maybe Nazi soldiers gradually committed to their actions against the Jews – starting with name calling.
The foot in the door technique can also be used by salesmen – “you have already bought the TV so why not buy the surround sound to go with it?”
Milgram’s experiment, as the main support for this idea, lacked ecological validity – so the findings should be treated with caution when generalising to real life explanations for obedience.
Milgram’s experiment has been criticised for sample bias as it used all male Americans.
Milgram’s experiment, had high realism, as shown in the distress of the participants, who actually believed they were giving electric shocks.
Legitimate authority
Milgram moved his experiment to a seedy office block and obedience dropped.
Respect for authority is different from country to country and so this idea cannot be generalised too widely.
Further supporting evidence for this idea comes from Bickman’s study on the