explanations for obedience: agentic state + legitimacy of authority

Autonomous state is where a person sees themselves as…

responsible for their own actions

Agentic state is where a person sees themselves as an..

agent, fulfilling another person's wishes, not responsible for their own actions

Agentic shift is when a…

person moves from autonomous to agentic state

Moral strain is a state of…

mental discomfort experienced in agentic state when a person's actions conflict with their personal morality

Binding factors are aspects of a situation that…

allow a person to ignore or minimise the damaging effects of their behaviour

Binding factor strategies:
gradual commitment, avoiding confrontation,…

shifting responsibility, victim blaming, minimising harm

Legitimacy of authority means their authority is…

legitimate and agreed by society

Legitimacy may only apply to certain…

contexts or situations

In Milgram's study, ppt enters w expectation of someone in charge. Experimenter…

fills this role through introductory remarks

Contextual factors: Institution
If authority figure's commands = potentially harmful, to be seen as legitimate, must occur…
e.g uni, military

within some sort of institutional structure

Contextual factors: Uniform
Indicates…
e.g police

legitimacy of authority

AO3- Evaluation: strength of legitimacy of authority
Supporting research
Blass + Schmitt (2001) showed film of Milgram's study to students, asked who was responsible for harm to learner.
Students said experimenter due to legitimacy of authority (hierarchy) + expert authority (scientist)
Therefore, suggests they recognised…

legitimacy of authority as a cause of obedience, increasing validity of loa

AO3- Evaluation: limitation of legitimacy of authority

Alternate explanation- authoritarian personality

Milgram- some refused, despite authority (uniform + institution)

Some more authoritarian than others: display strict adherence

Therefore, loa alone cannot...

account as explanation, other factors

AO3- Evaluation: limitation of agentic state
Cannot account for real life examples of obedience
Lifton (1986) found German doctors at Auschwitz changed gradually + irreversibly from normal doctors, from being concerned for patient welfare to carrying out lethal experiments on helpless prisoners.
This suggests agentic shift can't explain such behaviour, calling into question the…

validity of the agentic state explanation

AO3- Evaluation: limitation of agentic state
Can't account for obedience in other research studies.
Doesn't explain Hofling's findings.
Agentic shift predicts nurses should've shown moral strain, similar to Milgram's ppts as they understood extent of harm. But they didn't.
This suggests agentic state can only account for… suggesting it may be a…

some situations of obedience, limited explanation for obedience