A Research Note on Delegation of Responsibility in the Observation of a Situation of Obedience to Authority
Abstract
The objective of the research described here is to discover whether the features of obedience must be present in order for responsibility to be so attributed or whether the status of the actors and the meaning of the situation are sufficient. In two studies, we present animation showing the movements of three geometrical figures. The subjects are asked to describe the action and to divide 100% of responsibility between the three figures. The first study, conducted face to face (22 subjects), shows that a figure presented as an authority as opposed to a person is seen to take on a determining role in the action and is attributed 40% responsibility (vs. 17.9%). A second study (92 subjects) confirms this mechanism when the figure is presented as having other resources at its disposal (hypnotism and manipulation). The status of the actors and the meaning of the situation are therefore sufficient to prompt the attribution of responsibility to the figure presented as having the resources. These results lend support critiques of the agentic state theory.
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Biographies
Stéphane Laurens is Professor of Social Psychology at the University of Rennes 2 and editor of the Bulletin de Psychologie. His works focus on social influence and on the social construction of reality.
Floriane Hanzo is student in bachelor's degree of psychology at the University of Rennes 2. She's turning to the study of social influence and currently working on fascination for crime.
Pascal Morchain is professor-researcher in social psychology at the university of Rennes2. His previous work focuses on social values, stereotypes and “social determinability”. Since few years, he develops studies on social psychological processes involved in the perception of the art of magic.
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Article first published online: July 24, 2016
Issue published: December 2016
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This article was published in Imagination, Cognition and Personality.
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