Agentic state and legitimacy of authority Flashcards
* What does the person not/see themselves?
- Under certain circumstances
What is the agentic state?
- In this state, a person does not see themselves as responsible for their actions, butattributes responsibility to someone else, particularly an authority figure.
- Person may shift from autonomous state (where they feel responsible for their own actions, to an agentic state.
One explanation for shift to agentic state.
Need to maintain a positive self-image. By shifting responsibility onto the authority figure, the person doesn’t feel guilty about their actions.
example
What keeps an individual in the agentic state?
‘binding factors’ e.g. fear of appearing rude by refusing to obey the authority figure’s comand.
where does the power of legitimate authority figure come from?
Percieved positon in a social situation, rather than any personal characteristics.
What happened in M experiment surrounding legitimacy of authority?
Ppts had expectation that someone ‘would be in charge’, and the experimenter fullfilled this expectation by having an air of authority.
When do people accept definitions of a situ?
when there provided by a legitimate authority figure. So ppts, accepted experimenter reasurances about the learner.
what must the authority represent to be percieved as a legitimate authority figure?
represent a respected institution
this was case in M experiment as experimenter was in a scientific lab within a prestigious uni.
A03- Agentic state explanation does not explain real-life obedience.
Lifton (1986)
P- L argues M claim that people shift back and foreward between an autonomous state ans agentic state doesn’t explain behaviour at Aushwitz of german DR.
E- Dr changed gradually and irreversibly from medical proffesionals concerned with the welfare of patients into people capable of horrific experiments on prisoners.
-Lresearchers suggested it was the experience of carrrying out these actions over a long time that changed the way docters thoughts and behaved rather than agentic shift.
A03- AS -Milgram’s obedient ppts may have just been cruel.
P- M did concede that there could be other possibilities that would explain ppts behaviour.
E- Possibility that obedient ppts used situation to satisfy sadistic impulses was given substance that Z findingd that guards willing to inflict cruelty on prisoners without being ordered to.
-L suggests although obedience may be due to being in an agentic state for some people, for others, desire to inflict harm on others.
A03- LOA- the legitimacy of authority explanation can account for some acts of destructive obedience.
P- despite having many positive consequences, LOA can also serve as a justification for causing harm to others.
E- if people are willing to let authority figures make judgements about what is acceptable conduct, then they no longer feel their own moral values are relevent to how they behave.
-L a concequence of this is that people may readily engage in unquestioning obedience to authority,no matter how destructive or immoral these actions.
A03 PLUS- LOA- obedience in cockpit provides a test of LOA explanation.
Tarnow (2000)
P- T provided support for the importance of obedience to LA in a study of aviation accidents.
E- as with M study T found excessive dependence on the captains authority (lack of monitoring errors) contribution factor in a large prop of accidents.
-L Provides a real life demo of power of LA figures to enforce obedience in those around them.
