Agency theory Flashcards
Agency theory
- A mindset that allows us to carry out orders from authority figures, even when they conflict with out personal sense of right and wrong
- we absolve ourselves of responsibility, believing that as we are acting on someone elses behalf, blame for any negative consequences lie with them
Autonomous state
- a mindset where we behave independently
- make our own decisions about how to behave
- take responsibility for the consequences of our actions
Agentic shift
- the switch between autonomous and agentic state
when is the agentic shift likely to occur
when we perceive someone to be a legitimate source of authority and allow them to control our behaviour
Moral strain
- a state of mental discomfort or anxiety
- experienced in the agentic state when a persons actions conflict with their personal morality
2 things which make someone enter the agentic state
- Person giving ordered is perceived as being qualified to direct other peoples behaviour so they are seen as legitimate
- Person being ordered is able to believe that authority will take responsibility for what happens
Rank and Jacobson
- Study with nurses
- 16/18 failed to obey orders from a doctor who asked them to administer an overdose of drug valium
Rank and Jacobson conclusion
- Despite doctors being clear authority most nurses stayed autonomous
- demonstrates how nurses saw themselves as responsible for their own actions
Milgram states this theory supports his original study. Gina Perry argument:
- questioned internal validity of evidence as participants saw through deception
- examining evidence shows many pps questioned whether shocks were real
- showing 60% disobeyed experimenter
- questions theory
Lynndie England
- followed orders to break prisoners in Aby Ghraib
- she made agentic shift when given instructions by her superior
- many people behave similarly in authority
Lynndie England - what did she say
- “We were just following orders to be tough and break the prisoners”
- “We don’t feel like we were doing things we weren’t supposed to because we were told to”
Lynndie England - conclusions
- demonstrates the power of authority in eliciting ‘evil’ behaviour from good people due to our deeply imagined predisposition to obey orders
how does the military reduce moral strain
- to ensure soldiers follow orders without question
- phrases like ‘collateral damage’ dehumanises the enemy
How can this theory show an evolutionary perspective
- within a hierarchal arrangement, some degree of control over someone’s actions is given up
- accepting control from a superior in the hierarchy
when are orders and rules given in our best interest
- safety
- e.g, road signs
what could obedience lead to
destructive obedience
destructive obedience
obeying orders which leads to the harming of other people
Agentic state
- we give up our free will and see ourselves as an agent to those in authority
- we will do as we are told by perceived authority
- we will defer responsibility of our actions to others, as they are in charge and therefore we are to blame
when in Milgrams study are participants in the agentic state
- when they blindly follow orders of experimenter
- by increasing the volts by 15 v each time, despite 450 volts being shown as XXX
In Milgram, what state did participants who only went up to 300 Volts switch to
- autonomous
- they used their own free will and did not continue the experiment despite being told by experimenter ‘it is essential that you continue’
what becomes suppressed when working in a social system
conscience
organisational mode
- when conscience becomes suppressed when working in a social system
- instructions aren’t evaluated against individual conscience in the same way as when a person is acting independently
Through socialisation, what do we learn to give up
autonomy
denial
pushing the memories to the back of the mind to prevent us from thinking about it
