agentic state and legitimacy of authority

Question 1

agentic state meaning

Answer 1

A mental state where we feel no personal responsibility for our behaviour because we believe ourselves to be acting for authority figure i.e. as an agent

Question 2

autonomous state

Answer 2

an individual in this stats is free to behave according to their own principles and therefore they feel a sense of responsibility for their own actions

Question 3

binding factors

Answer 3

aspects of a situation that allows the person to ignore or minimise the damaging effect of the behaviour and thus reduce the ‘moral strain’ they are feeling

Question 4

legitimacy of authority

Answer 4

An explanation for obedience which suggests that we are more likely to obey people who we perceive to have authority over us

Question 5

Destructive authority

Answer 5

problems arise when legitimate authority becomes destructive for example Hitler

Question 6

strength of agentic state

Answer 6

• research support from Milgram
• Participants were told that the experimenter would take the blame for any harm suffered by the participants, and would continue with the experiment.
• strength bc it shows that once they’re relieved of responsibility they will obey

Question 7

limitation of agentic state

Answer 7

• limited explanation
• researcher found in a study, a known doctor asked nurses to give an excessive dose of a drug to patients. 16/18 disobeyed this order, which came from an authority figure (a known doctor).
• limitation as it doesn’t explain why some people remain in autonomous state and do not obey

Question 8

strength of legitimacy of authority

Answer 8

research evidence

- seen in Milgrams variations of uniform