1. psychlotron.org.uk Go back the way you came and take a different route. Let me have a look in the boot of your car Give me £10 from your purse.

2. psychlotron.org.uk Today’s session You will learn aboutContext Describing theories Using research findings to support or challenge theories Situational and dispositional explanations of obedience

3. psychlotron.org.uk Explaining obedience Agency theory Authoritarian personality theory

4. psychlotron.org.uk Agency theory A situational explanation of obedience People have two ways of acting Autonomous –direct own behaviour, and take responsibility for consequences Agentic –allow someone else to direct their behaviour, pass responsibility to them People are conditioned to respond to certain types of cue with agentic behaviour

5. psychlotron.org.uk What sorts of cue might produce agentic behaviour? When and where do we learn to respond to such cues agentically?

6. psychlotron.org.uk Evidence for agency theory Studies have demonstrated agentic behaviour when… Authority explicitly takes responsibility (Milgram, 1963) Authority is wearing a uniform (Bickman, 1974) Authority claims/appears to have higher status than PP (Hofling et al, 1966)

7. psychlotron.org.uk Authoritarian personality A dispositional explanation of obedience Adorno (1950) claims a particular personality type (authoritarian) is more likely to obey an authority Authoritarian traits: Status oriented Conventional and conformist Suspicious & hostile

8. psychlotron.org.uk Authoritarian personality Fear of parents Excessively respectful of authority figures Hate & anger displaced onto others Hatred of parents Harsh and punitive upbringing; little love, much punishment Based on Sigmund Freud’s idea that the adult personality is determined by childhood experiences

9. psychlotron.org.uk Does Milgram’s study suggest that obedience is confined to a particular personality type? How far do you accept that there may be a personality type that makes people more likely to obey an authority figure?

10. psychlotron.org.uk Authoritarian personality High F- Scale score High obedience to authority Low SES & poor education Hyman & Sheatsley (1954)

11. psychlotron.org.uk Authoritarian personality Authoritarianism is linked to having right-wing political views. Are only right-wing people obedient to authority?