Conformity and Milgram's Agency Theory of Obedience

Two kinds of explanation

Somebody goes along with a group they disagree with. Somebody follows an instruction they think is wrong. Why? This topic gives you two completely different kinds of answer, and the specification is built on the difference between them. A social explanation puts the cause in the situation: change the situation and the behaviour changes, because most people would have done the same in that position. A dispositional explanation puts the cause in the person: something about that individual made them more likely to go along or to obey. Notice that these are not two halves of one answer. They disagree about where responsibility sits, and about whether you would have behaved differently. Every part of this topic comes in that pair, and the thing examiners reward is not just naming a factor but saying which kind of explanation you are giving. Conformity research is associated with Asch, and the account of obedience you need is the agency theory set out by Milgram.

Situation or person

Five terms. The first two are the frame the whole topic hangs on; the rest are what the frame is applied to.

Name the factor at work

Which kind of explanation

Someone says: "He obeyed because he has always been the sort of person who respects authority." What kind of explanation is that?

• Dispositional, because it locates the cause in something about the individual
• Social, because respecting authority is learned from other people
• Both equally, since all behaviour has social and dispositional causes
• Neither, because it describes a habit rather than a cause

Agency against personality

The specification names two explanations of obedience, and they are not two halves of one account. They disagree.

Factors drill

Five quick questions on the named factors this topic expects you to have exactly. Three lives.

What your spec asks for

Worth knowing before you revise this from anything you did not get from your teacher. Almost every revision site and video on obedience leads with a famous experiment involving electric shocks, and reports the proportion of people who went all the way. Your specification does not ask for that. It asks for the theory that came out of it: agency theory, and the four social factors that make obedience more or less likely. If you spend your revision memorising a procedure and a percentage, you will have learned something interesting and will still not be able to answer the question in front of you, which will ask you to explain or apply the factors. Learn agency, authority, culture and proximity, and be able to say what each one does.

Which are social factors

Select the TWO factors that agency theory names as affecting obedience.

• Proximity, meaning how close the authority figure is
• Culture, meaning the norms about authority a person has grown up with
• Task difficulty, meaning how hard the judgement is to make
• Group size, meaning how many other people are present

How agency theory works

Agency theory says people move between two states. Acting on their own principles, they feel _____ for what they do. In the presence of a recognised _____, they may shift into acting as that person agent, and responsibility then feels as though it belongs to the _____ rather than to them. Obedience becomes more likely when the authority figure is close by, which the theory calls _____, and the norms a person has grown up with about authority are covered by the factor called _____.

The dispositional one

Four explanations of why somebody followed an instruction. Select the ONE that is dispositional rather than social.

• The person giving the instruction was standing right beside her.
• She had grown up somewhere where instructions from officials are rarely questioned.
• She has always been the kind of person who finds it difficult to say no.
• She was wearing a uniform that made her one of a group rather than an individual.

A paragraph that names its explanation

A question asks you to explain why an employee carried out an instruction they believed was unfair. Here is an answer that would score well. One explanation is social. Agency theory suggests that in the presence of a recognised authority a person may stop acting on their own principles and begin acting as that person agent, so that responsibility for the outcome feels as though it belongs to the person giving the instruction. Two of the named social factors are relevant here: the manager authority within the workplace, and proximity, since the instruction was given face to face rather than in a message. This explanation predicts that most employees in the same position would have complied. A dispositional explanation would say something different. Adorno described an authoritarian personality more disposed to defer to authority, which would locate the cause in the individual rather than the situation and would predict that a different employee might have refused. This account is disputed, and the evidence is stronger for the situation than for the person. Notice the three moves that earned the marks. Each explanation is labelled as social or dispositional. Named factors are used rather than gestured at. And the disputed account is attributed rather than stated as fact.

The shift into agency

Put the stages of the agency theory account in order.

• A person is acting on their own principles and feels responsible for what they do
• Somebody the person recognises as having authority gives an instruction
• The person shifts into acting as the agent of that authority
• Responsibility for the outcome now feels as though it belongs to the authority
• The instruction is carried out, even where the person would not have chosen it

Build the careful claim

Assemble a sentence in the register an examiner rewards.

Explaining an order

A student is asked to explain why a group of volunteers followed an instruction most of them privately disagreed with. Take the decisions in order.

• Where should the answer start?
• The instruction was given in person by someone the volunteers recognised as in charge. Which named factors apply?
• The student wants to add a dispositional explanation. What should they say?
• How should the answer be finished?

Two explanations, one act

Describe a situation in which somebody went along with a group, or followed an instruction they disagreed with. It can be invented. Then explain it twice, once socially and once dispositionally.

• Describe the situation briefly, and say whether it is conformity or obedience, with a reason
• Give a social explanation, naming at least two of the factors the specification lists
• Explain what that social account predicts about how other people would have behaved
• Give a dispositional explanation, and attribute it rather than stating it as fact
• Explain what the dispositional account predicts instead, and why the two disagree
• Finish by saying which kind of explanation you find better supported here, and why