In Milgram\u2019s seminal obedience studies, participants\u2019 behaviour has traditionally been explained as a demonstration of people\u2019s tendency to enter into an \u2018agentic state\u2019 when in the presence of an authority figure: they attend only to the demands of that authority and are insensitive to the plight of their victims. There have been many criticisms of this view, but most rely on either indirect or anecdotal evidence. In this study, participants (n = 40) are taken through a Virtual Reality simulation of the Milgram paradigm. Compared to control participants (n = 20) who are not taken through the simulation, those in the experimental conditions are found to attempt to help the Learner more by putting greater emphasis on the correct word over the incorrect words. We also manipulate the extent to which participants identify with the science of the study and show that high identifiers both give more help, are less stressed, and are more hesitant to press the shock button than low identifiers. We conclude that these findings constitute a refutation of the \u2018agentic state\u2019 approach to obedience. Instead, we discuss implications for the alternative approaches such as \u2018engaged followership\u2019 which suggests that obedience is a function of relative identification with the science and with the victim in the study. Finally, we discuss the value of Virtual Reality as a technique for investigating hard-to-study psychological phenomena.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In Milgram\u2019s seminal obedience studies, participants\u2019 behaviour has traditionally been explained as a demonstration of people\u2019s tendency to enter into an \u2018agentic state\u2019 when in the presence of an authority figure: they attend only to the demands of that authority and are insensitive to the plight of their victims. There have been many criticisms of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":566691,"template":"","meta":{"msr-url-field":"","msr-podcast-episode":"","msrModifiedDate":"","msrModifiedDateEnabled":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_classifai_error":"","msr-author-ordering":null,"msr_publishername":"","msr_publisher_other":"","msr_booktitle":"","msr_chapter":"","msr_edition":"","msr_editors":"","msr_how_published":"","msr_isbn":"","msr_issue":"","msr_journal":"PLoS ONE 13(12): e0209704.","msr_number":"","msr_organization":"","msr_pages_string":"","msr_page_range_start":"1","msr_page_range_end":"16","msr_series":"","msr_volume":"","msr_copyright":"\u00a9 2018 Gonzalez-Franco et al. 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