Agency theory

Question 1

intro

Answer 1

agency theory is based on the idea that our social systems lead to obedience. if you see yourself as an individual you will act under your own power and your decisions are based on your own idea’s although if you don’t then we see an genetic shift from autonomous state to agents state, this shift is where individuals give up responsibility and see themselves as a agent following orders of authority without considering concequences

Question 2

point 1

Answer 2

strength- ideas from the agency theory can be seen within milgrams original study.

firstly most pets act in an agentic state, they give up reposnivility to authority- experimenter and see themselves as agents ignoring their moral code.

this state is reinforced by the experimenter saying ‘ I am responsible’ therefore puts may have further deferred responsibility, following the experimenters commands and delivering electric shocks to the learner.

this may be due to seeingg the experimenter as higher up in the hierarchical social system.

65% of ppts delivered electric shocks up to 450v many showed signs of moral strain, discomfort in giving up control, inwardly disagreeing wit orders given to us such as sweating, nervous laughter, some even has seizures, to deal with this we can see the

use of defence mechanisms in the debrief where many said that the Lerner was also a ppt so could leave if wanted too- rationalisation.

Question 3

point 2

Answer 3

weakness- lacks eco and task validity Yale, not asked every day to deliver electric chocks to a learner cant assume that this is how people will act towards an authority figure in every day life

Question 4

point 3

Answer 4

however, huffing carried out a study similar to milgrams in a natural environment and higher task validity, and found the same results. nurses were asked to deliver dangerous dosages of medication to patients by an unknown doctor, 21/22 followed the unknown doctors orders, agin demonstrationg that nurses acted in the agents state, when they would have known this was a dangerous dosage due to the doctor being of higher status, they gave up repsonsibility and acted as an agent following orders against their moral code

Question 5

point 4

Answer 5

although, the agency theory ignores individual differences in obedience, it neglects the small minority that didn’t follow milgrams commands 35%, milligram carried out an interview on the disobedient and found a common pattern although this wasn’t really explained by the agency theory, therefore not a complete explanation of obedience.

Question 6

point 5

Answer 6

application- can be used to prevent malevolent authority figures using their heircarcial power to cause people to act as agents, as seen in WW2 where hater who was of higher social status, made germans shift from an autonomous state where killing innocent jews was wrong and immoral, to agents state giving up responsibilitiesy differing it to hitler ‘ just doing as told’. can aim to prevent this from occurring as the agency theory would suggest that people are likely to shift to the agent state when being told to do something by a higher authority figure even if goes against moral code