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Can someone help me to evaluate the explanation for obedience

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.

Explanation of obedience: Agentic state
The agentic shift is the shift from an autonomous state where the person acts on their morals and has full responsibility for their actions to an agentic state where they act on behalf of an authority figure therefore they don’t feel any responsibility. The strength of the explanation of 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 a figure authority was over the phone giving instructions. In addition the study has a high external validity as it involves real world issues.

Reply 1

I don't get it, you say you want help but those paragraphs fully explain it... Do you need it to be simplified perhaps?? In that case I'll also add my own class notes. You'll have to do everything in depth yourself,

Legitimacy of authority
PROS:

Research support (mauro 1984, kelman & hamilton 1989, milgram's uniform variation), real world applications

CONS:

Cultural differences, situational factors, historical & social contexts


Agentic state
PROS:

Real world application (Adolf eichmann's testimony, Massacre at my lai), clear distinction between autonomous and agentic state

Research support (milgram's experiment, hofling 1966)

CONS:

cultural variation, doesn't explain disobedience, assumes passive obedience

Reply 2

Original post
by reallycringename
I don't get it, you say you want help but those paragraphs fully explain it... Do you need it to be simplified perhaps?? In that case I'll also add my own class notes. You'll have to do everything in depth yourself,
Legitimacy of authority
PROS:

Research support (mauro 1984, kelman & hamilton 1989, milgram's uniform variation), real world applications

CONS:

Cultural differences, situational factors, historical & social contexts


Agentic state
PROS:

Real world application (Adolf eichmann's testimony, Massacre at my lai), clear distinction between autonomous and agentic state

Research support (milgram's experiment, hofling 1966)

CONS:

cultural variation, doesn't explain disobedience, assumes passive obedience


Thank youuu. I wanted to know if I am evaluating, do I need to add the weakness of the evalulations? I only did strengths

Reply 3

Original post
by Aniksha_629
Thank youuu. I wanted to know if I am evaluating, do I need to add the weakness of the evalulations? I only did strengths
You should try to include weaknesses or counter points but yeah you did a really good job with your evaluation. I almost thought it was taken from a textbook lol. There are however cases where there are little to no weaknesses or the weaknesses seem like a stretch, in that case no, don't include any

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