Agentic state and Legitimacy of authority

What big event(s) sparked Milgram’s interest in studying obedience, and what was the common factor amongst them all?

• Massacre at My Lai

• Abu Ghraib Prison

• The Holocaust & Nazi Persecution of the Jews

In all these events individuals followed orders (‘acting as an agent') and had high levels of obedience.

Define agentic state

• A mental state where we do not feel personally responsible for our behaviour because we believe ourselves to be acting for an authority figure

• Feel powerless to change our behaviour due to being an agent (unable to control/decide our own behaviour)

Define autonomous state

• A mental state where feel we are independent and have control over our actions so act according to our own principles

• Feel a sense of responsibility for our own actions

What is the agentic shift?

The process where an individual switches between autonomous state and agentic state

What are binding factors? Give an example of one in Milgram’s study.

• Aspects of a situation that allow the person to ignore or minimise the damaging effect of their behaviour and therefore reduce the “moral strain” they are feeling

• An example Milgram used was shifting the responsibility on to the learner. He achieved this by getting the researcher to say “he was foolish to volunteer”.

How can you explain the results of Milgram’s study using the agentic state explanation?

Participants felt like they were not personally responsible for shocking the learner as they were being told to do it by the “experimenter” (authority figure)

What is legitimate authority and give some examples of people who generally are seen to have legitimate authority.

People with higher societal positions than us in certain situations hold authority over us.

For example: a teacher at school, judges in court, security guards at a nightclub

What do perceived legitimate authority figures lead us to do?

Position of legitimate authority leads us to trust them, therefore give up our independence and obey their orders.

What are some visible symbols that make authority figures legitimate?

Uniform (e.g: police wear hi-vis jackets and hats)

How can Milgram’s study be explained using the legitimacy of authority explanation?

Experimenter wore a grey lab coat (making him look as if he had legitimate authority). When experimenter gave participant order to deliver shock, participants generally obeyed.

What did Blass + Schmidt (2001) find? How does this support Milgram’s explanation of obedience?

• Showed psychology students a video of Milgram’s study and asked them who they felt was responsible for the harm of the learner (who was experiencing the shocks)

• The students blamed the “experimenter” rather than the “teacher” (participant)

• Therefore the students must perceive the experimenter as having authority and expect participants to experience an agentic shift

• Students assume participants are in an agentic state, so follow orders without feeling responsible

• Therefore this supports the legitimacy of authority and agentic state explanation

How can you use Hofling’s study to evaluate Legitimacy of Authority and agentic state?

• In this study 21/22 nurses immediately obeyed the unjustified demand from a doctor to administer a drug at double the lethal dose on a hospital ward

• Strength: Saw doctors as legitimate authority, so obeyed their orders without question

• Limitation: Agentic state argues that people are still aware of their behaviour and feel guilty (but powerless to disobey). Nurses did not seem to feel guilty, so suggests explanation is limited.

How can this explanation of obedience explain cultural differences? Why is this a strength of this explanation?

• Replications of Milgram’s study have been performed in different countries

• Australia: Only 16% of participants delivered the maximum shock

• Germany: 85% German participants delivered maximum shock

How does the legitimacy of authority explanation manage to explain real life events? Why is this a strength?