Agency theory Flashcards
What did Milgram believe obedience was ?
- We are innately prepared to be obedient
- Nurtured through socialisation
- Obedience is essential otherwise chaos would ensue
What 2 states do humans exist in ?
- Autonomous state
- Agentic state
What is the autonomous state ?
- Humans act according to their own free will
- Make own decisions & have moral conscience
- In control & bear consequences
- Independent
What is the agentic state ?
- Occurs when given instruction by authority, people see themselves as asking for an agent
- Act on behalf of someone else & follows orders blindly
- No personal responsibility & blame on authority
What is the agentic shift ?
Shifting between autonomous & agentic states
What is diffusion of responsibility ?
More likely to disobey as actions have less influence & consequence
What is cognitive dissonance ?
What we might experience when our actions don’t match the idea we have of ourselves
How is cognitive dissonance overcome ?
Rationalising actions or changing behaviour
What is moral strain ?
Distress experienced as we have 2 contradictory urges = obey authority or obey own conscience
What are the 4 stages of moral strain portrayed through defence mechanisms ?
- Denial
- Avoidance
- Degree of involvement
- Helping the learner
What is denial ?
Ignoring reality of a situation
What is avoidance ?
Dismissing thoughts/feelings that are uncomfortable
What is degree of involvement ?
The amount of responsibility taken & how involved they are in the situation
How is Hofling supporting research ?
- Stooge doctor phoned nurse asking to administer 2x daily dose to patient on late night ward
- 21/22 obeyed
- Due to hierarchy of authority
How is Milgram supporting research ?
- 65% willing to administer shocks up to 450V
- Showed anxiety
- Debrief = said it was responsibility of researcher & didn’t want to do it
How is Burger supporting research ?
- Same results in 2009 as Milgram’s study
How is French & Raven supporting research ?
- 5 bases of power = legitimate power, reward power, referent power, expert power & coercive power
- Provide better explanation for obedience
What is a criticism ?
- Some don’t obey authority
- Dissent can occur for many reasons like personality, gender & age
What is a criticism of Milgram ?
- Lack ecological validity
- Not usual tasks
What are applications ?
- During Vietnam War, My Lai approached by American soldiers ordered to shoot occupants suspected of being Vietcong soliders
- Calley claimed to be following orders
How is this unfalsifiable ?
- Difficult to measure autonomy & agency
- Cannot evidence state of mind
- Cant find evidence in evolutionary past or archaeological evidence
Why is moral strain a problem ?
- Shown by participants who obeyed not by ones who disobeyed
- Milgram suggests agentic state escape from moral strain, but not observed in studies
