Agency Theory Flashcards
What are the stages in agency theory?
Autonomous state, agentic state
What may a person endure if they’re ordered to do something they disagree with?
Moral Strain
What may a person experience when they are assured that they will not be responsible for their actions?
Agentic Shift
Describe and evaluate agency theory
Milgram’s agency theory suggests that everyone starts off in an autonomous state , they have free will and accept responsibility for their own actions. When they’re ordered to do something by an authority figure , they experience a discomfort, a moral strain, which causes them to experience an agentic shift, and become an “agent” of an authority figure and follow the orders due to the belief that the authority figure will take responsibility for their actions (causes a lower amount of moral strain) , this leads to the agentic state.
Milgram’s agency theory had research evidence as it was based on his 1950 study , participants involved were normal at the start had shown distress when instructed to shock the confederate, they were experiencing moral strain once instructed to do something .Once the experimenter said he was responsible for their actions , the participant began an agentic shift and became an agent , this shows credibility to the theory as it can be applied to the study.
Milgram’s agency theory also has credible research evidence in Hofling’s study where nurses were told to administer a dosage of a drug 11/23 of them knew were dangerous. 21/23 administered the drug and became an agent of the experimenter, they didn’t question the experimenter’s authority even though they had a right to. This shows credibility as studies from other researchers were able to support the theory.
Milgram’s agency theory is too simple , it doesn’t explain dispositional factors affecting obedience such as personality, Adorno’s authoritarian personality theory suggests that people who have an authoritarian personality have an exaggerated respect for authority figures and therefore may progress to the agentic state at a faster rate, compared to people who are not authoritarian who may take longer to reach that state. People with an internal locus of control show a high level of control over their own lives and therefore are less likely to progress to an agentic state in comparison to someone with external locus of control.
In the Holocaust , Nazi soldiers had progressed through agency theory as they didn’t take responsibility for their own actions , they may have shown discomfort at first but then had followed the idea that the commander and/or Hitler will take responsibility, Nazi’s justified themselves by saying they were “just following orders”.
Milgram’s agency theory has been objected by Bickman’s social impact theory which suggests that people are influenced by social forces over moral strain. Milgram’s agency theory suggests that changing situational factors such as number of authority will not affect obedience levels.
