Explanations of Obedience - Agentic state and Legitimacy of authority Flashcards
What is the Agentic state?
Person sees themself as an agent carrying out the orders of an authority figure
-Very little personal responsibility
In Milgram’s study, they reported they were ‘just doing as they were told’
Why do people go through an Agentic shift?
Because they think it reflects better on their self-image
-Because they have been TOLD to do something, they think that it no longer reflects negatively on their self image
-They also feel guilt free about doing these things
What keeps people in an Agentic state?
Social ettiquette
-People don’t want to ‘breach the agreement’ with the experimenter
-They don’t want to appear as rude
AO3 -
Agentic State- ‘Agentic state or just a cruel person?’
Milgram may have used particularly cruel ppts who use the ‘shocks’ to express suppressed sadistic feelings
-This means that for SOME people there may have been an agentic shift, however for others they may not be obeying at all
– Because they are doing something that they wanted to do anyway
AO3 -
Agentic State- ‘Agentic state because of loss of control’
Researchers claim that an agentic shift is more likely due to a loss of personal control
-They therefore may look for external sources of control (i.e from other people)
-Therefore, the agentic shift is because of a lack of personal control as well as regular obedience to authority
What is legitimacy of authority?
A person needs to see the authority as legitimate in order to adopt an agentic state
Legitimacy of authority was reduced in Milgram’s study when the study took place in a run down office, and when the experimenter was replaced by a plain clothed ‘participant’
What does legitimate authority do, and what conditions does it require?
Legitimate authority causes people to obey even when they think that it is wrong to do so.
-In Milgram’s study when there was legitimate authority obedience was high.
Legitimate authority requires an institution to take place. e.g the Yale Lab, but also the office that was used for a variation of the study
-This is because the office was also an institution, so it was found that it is not about the condition of the location, but more about what the location was.
AO3 +
Legitimacy of Authority- ‘Obedience in the Cockpit’
Researcher studied data from all serious US plane crashes which had voice recorders in the cockpit
-They found excessive dependence on the captains authority, even when they didn’t think it was the right call
This shows how legitimate authority can lead to obedience, even in life threatening situations
AO3 +/-
Legitimacy of Authority- ‘Legitimacy of authority explanation and real life obedience’
Legitimacy can lead to the harming of others being justified
-People no longer feel like their judgement or morals are relevant to what they are doing
-This has negative consequences such as people obeying the authority figure no matter what the task is
Supports idea of Legitimate authority, however is a negative impact of it
