Agency Theory Flashcards
Who proposed agency theory?
Milgram
How did Milgram incorporate hierarchical societies into agency theory?
People tend to obey legitimate authority as it is a mechanism to ensure a stable society. complex hierarchical societies have evolved where we have to obey sets of rules: keeping to these rules means giving up some of our free will. obedience prevents accidents and results in social order- except the times it ends horrifically (Nazi Germany).
Milgram believes these societies performed an important survival skill- the ones who didn’t survive died out.
obedience in this social organisation is essential to social order , without it there would be issues like chaos and societal breakdown.
What is socialisation in agency theory?
We are prepared to be obedient and exposure to authority figures in family and education nurtures this preparedness through SOCIALISATION.
Parents and carers use rewards and punishments to encourage obedience and discourage dissent in young children. this is continued in the future through education, and legal system and employment, ensuring we develop as subordinates within society.
To give up our free will, we have two states. What are they?
autonomous and agentic.
What is the shift between autonomous and agentic state?
Agentic shift.
What is agentic state?
We surrender our free will & conscience to serve the interests of a wider group; we are agents to those in power and authority. We are de-individuated and deny all personal responsibility.
What is autonomous state?
The opposite of agentic. We feel free to act as we wish, inlcuding how our conscience dictates.
What is moral strain?
The result of having to do something we believe to be immoral in order to function as an agent of those in power and authority, and so benefit society. Denial is used to avoid the distress of moral strain.
Why do we have the general tendency to obey those we perceive to have legitimate authority?
To ensure a stable society.
What can obedience help prevent?
Accidents and results in social order the majority of the time.
What is the result of an agentic shift?
An individual feels responsibility towards the authority figure directing his/ her actions, but feels no responsibility for their own individual actions. Once someone is in an age tic state, the power of the social situation- social etiquette- bings the individual to the authority figure; defying them risks seeming rude and arrogant- this behaviour isn’t taken lightly.
What does the perceived legitimate authority figure even mean?
There is a shared expectation among people that in many situations, there is an obvious socially controlling figure.
What is a weakness of agency theory?
A perceived authority figure must occur within some sort of institutional structure that has perceived legitimacy- eg a psychologist at a university. This means there is a lack of ecological validity because this is not done every day and is a lab experiment.
What is Krackow and Blass 1995?
Gave 68 US nurses a questionnaire asking them the last time they had disagreed with a doctor’s order. Two factors emerged as influencing the nurses decision whether to obey or disobey: the most important factor was the authority of the doctor: most nurses obeyed the other because they recognised the doctor as a legitimate authority with a right to make the decision. However their answers were also influenced by the seriousness of the consequences to the patient- nurses would challenge the order.
What is Bushman 1988?
Varied the authoritativeness of the authority figure, when they had more status, obedience was more likely.
What are whistle blowers?
People who challenge authority.
What is Tarnow 2000?
Provided support for agency theory.
He analysed all serious aircraft accidents in the US between 1978 and 1990 where a flight recorder was available and where flight crew actions were a contributing factor to the crash. He found excessive dependence on the captains authority and expertise. This lack of monitoring on the captains actions led to 19 out of 37 accidents. He also found accidents occur when people in a crisis situation with the best information on which to base decisions follow orders from in authority who have less information.
How does agency theory have face validity?
It seems to explain human behaviour in many situations- school, workplace, armed forces. Lt William Calley followed order of Captain Medina, in his court martial following the My Lai Incident, Lt Calley claimed he was simply just following orders.
Describe Zimbardo et al 1973.
Weakness
Showed that within a few days guards inflicted rapidly escalating cruelty on increasing submissive prisoners despite the fact there were no obvious authority figure instructing them to do so.
Describe Reichar and Haslam
The prisoners did not go into an agentic state & follow orders, they actually rebelled against the prison guards.
According to reichar, whether we obey orders is less about being in an agentic state & more about SIT, we obey leaders who we think are part of our social group, we follow leaders who we identify with & disobey when we fail to identify with an authority figure.
How does agency theory have a weakness of a circular argument?
An agentic state is generated when an order is given by perceived authority figure, however this concept is an internal mental process that cannot be measured directly only inferred from behaviour - it becomes a circular argument: agency theory cannot be defined independently from obedience - people obey because they are in an agentic state but are in an agentic state because they obey
How is agency theory difficult to measure?
Agentic and autonomous concepts are states of mind and cannot be seen therefore cannot be objectively measured. Meaning this theory lacks scientific credibility.
