Can someone mark this for me? - Explanation of obedience as level psychology aqa

The legitimacy of authority is when people obey an authority figure when there are visible symbols of status such as uniform. The strength of the explanation of "legitimacy of authority" is that it's supported by research and evidence that supports its validity. "Mauro (1984) supports the explanation of obedience known as 'legitimacy of authority' through an observation of the California police department. When officers began wearing civilian-style uniforms, there was a significant increase—doubling—in the number of assaults. This shows how the police uniform symbolises authority and power, which allows the police to enforce the laws. Symbols such as the uniform make people more likely to obey as the police are perceived as legitimate authority figures. Therefore this shows that people follow when there are visible signs even if it conflicts with their morals and personal beliefs shown from the findings of Milgram's experiment thus demonstrating its validity.

The agentic shift is when someone acts on behalf of an authority figure leading them to feel little to no responsibility for their actions because they are following orders of another authority figure. The strength of the explanation "Agentic Shift" is that it is supported by research and evidence which supports its validity. Hofling (1966) had a fake doctor "Dr Smith" make a phone call to 22 nurses and instruct each nurse to give an unfamiliar medicine "Astoten" (actually glucose) to a patient "Mr Jone". 21 out of the 22 obeyed the doctor and gave the medication(95%). 10 nurses said they did notice the difference in the dose of medication but thought it would be safe if the doctor ordered it. This highlights how nurses work in an agentic state which can endanger patients if these orders aren't questioned. Therefore this supports the agentic shift explanation, as also shown in Milgram's experiment when obedience dropped to 20.5% from 65% when the a figure authority was over the ohone giving instructions.

(edited 1 month ago)

Reply 1

123dz

how many marks is this question?
i am assuming it is a 4 marker as the command word here is “explain”? unless this is an evaluate the explanations of obedience question. it is not clear

Reply 2

Aniksha_629

These are seperate questions. There are no marks for it but i wanted to know if I have properly stated the answer to a homework question which is asking us to write about the "Explanation of obedience"

Reply 3

123dz

yes, however one thing i would like to point out is that the agentic shift is the *shift* from an autonomous state to one where they are acting on behalf of a perceived authority figure (agentic state)