title: Authority Relationship From a Societal Perspective: Social Representations of Obedience and Disobedience in Austrian Young Adults.
abstract: Obedience and disobedience have always been salient issues for both civil society and social psychologists. Since Milgram's first studies on destructive obedience there has not been a bottom-up definition of what obedience and disobedience mean. The current study aimed at investigating the social representations young adults use to define and to co-construct knowledge about obedience and disobedience in Austria. One hundred fifty four (106 females, 68.8%) Austrian young adults (Mean age = 22.9; SD = 3.5) completed a mixed-method questionnaire comprising open-ended questions and free word associations. Overall obedience and disobedience are respectively defined as conformity and non-conformity to regulations, ranging from implicit social norms to explicit formal laws. Authority is multi-faceted and has a central role in orienting obedience and disobedience. Further fundamental determinants of the authority relationship and relevant application of the results are discussed in this paper.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fattori
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Sigmund Freud PrivatUniversität, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Curly
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Sigmund Freud PrivatUniversität, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Amrei C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Jörchel
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Maura
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pozzi
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Sigmund Freud PrivatUniversität, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Dominik
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mihalits
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Alfieri
keywords: disobedience; mixed-method approach; obedience; social representations; young adults