Agency theory Flashcards
intro.
Milgram was unconvinced that Eichmann (organiser of the holocaust) was the ‘monster’ he was made out to be so set out to investigate wether ‘anyone’ could be ordered to harm another. conduct experiment on healthy ppts to see if they would administer shocks to an innocent confederate in a study where he concluded we are all capable of complying to demands even when it hurts another. He used this conclusion as basis for proposing ‘agency theory’.
agentic state
occurs when given instruction by authority. people see themselves as acting for an agent.
autonomous state
Human acts according to their own free will.
autonomous and agentic state
P -Milgram proposed that humans exist in two different states; the autonomous state and the agentic state.
-We perceive some people to be ‘authority figures’ who may carry symbols of authority e.g a uniform. an oder from an authority figure triggers the agentic shift from the autonomous to the agentic state.
E -In Milgram’s experiment 13 ‘ordinary man’ he questioned the power of the experimenter, he removed status from the experimenter by presenting him as an ordinary man. results found there was a sharp drop in obedience. with 16 out of the 20 not continuing to the end (20%). meaning not as many experienced the agentic shift with no authority figure present.
E -Milgram used the same procedure in all of his variations, so any change in results would be as a result of the change in thew Iv, allowing us to establish a clear causal relationship, thus increasing the internal validity. However, there were still elements of authority as the set up included scientific apparatus in Yale Uni. Hence removing status from the experimenter may not have been enough to remove authority, overall reducing the validity.
Moral strain definition
P- Distress experienced because we have two contradictory urges: to obey out consciences and keep our own self image as ‘a good person”.
Moral strain
E- Milgram saw this in his ppts. He suggested that the switch into agentic state relieves moral strain because it displaces responsibility onto an authority figure. some ppts asked who’s responsibility it was for the harm of the learner, when the experimenter said it was themselves, the ppts showed signs of relief.
Furthermore, the agentic shift can be seen during his experiment as the ppts showed signs of distress including, sweating, trembling, stuttering and groaning.
E- There are ethical concerns with this however, as not only are the ppts subjected to trauma and discomfort, this was worsened by the experimenter making it difficult for the ppts to withdraw due to the prods pressuring them to continue. However, extensively debriefed ppts and went to lengths to show that lasting harm had not befallen them, this included an interview in which 83% of ppts were glad to take part.
defence mechanisms
P- To lessen the moral strain, milgram points out that his own ppts used ‘defence mechanisms”. One example of a defence mechanism shown in milgrams study is being in denial.
E- some of the ppts in milgrams study minimised the pain they were causing to the learner, convincing themselves that the shocks weren’t dangerous 9despite ‘danger’ being written on the shock generator); Milgram argues that many people in nazi Germany did this, refusing to believe what was going on in the death camps.
E- Although milgrams study supports his theory, his research lacks ecological validity, the use of the shock machine to administrate shocks on a confederate for every wrong answer does not convey real life situations, nor were wartime Germans asked to do this by the nazis.
conc.
Overall, the concept of autonomy and agency is very difficult to measure and define. Agency is a state of mind that’s switched to when given an order. We cannot evidence this, only make assertions. Also, we cannot explore obedience in our evolutionary past, nor can we dig up archaeological evidence for this type of behaviour.
