Milgram's explanation for Obedience

Question 1

What is the Agentic State?

Answer 1

You are an agent of someone else’s ideas or orders. Lose some free will.

In this state, individuals may not feel personally responsible for their actions.

Question 2

What is the opposite of the Agentic State?

Answer 2

Autonomous State.

In an autonomous state, individuals are personally responsible for their actions.

Question 3

How does a person’s mental state change between states?

Answer 3

Peoples mental state will move from an autonomous state to an agentic state and are not responsible for their actions.

This shift allows for obedience to authority figures.

Question 4

What does the Agentic State allow individuals to do?

Answer 4

Obey even destructive obedience.

This can lead to harmful actions when individuals believe they are not responsible.

Question 5

What evidence supports the concept of the Agentic State?

Answer 5

Subjects asked ‘who is responsible’ were told the experimenter was responsible.

This caused them to feel able to continue, knowing it was not their responsibility if someone got harmed.

Question 6

What is a real-life application of the Agentic State?

Answer 6

Adolf Eichmann following orders of higher-ranked authority in the form of Adolf Hitler.

Eichmann’s actions during the Holocaust exemplify the agentic state in extreme situations.

Question 7

Fill in the blank: The Agentic State allows individuals to obey even _______.

Answer 7

destructive obedience.