Social Flashcards
Obedience: Agency Theory (Milgram)
What is obedience?
A form of social influence in which an individual follows a direct order.
Obedience: Agency Theory (Milgram)
What is an autonomous state?
A mindset where we behave independently, make our own decisions about how to behave and take responsibility for the consequences of our actions.
Obedience: Agency Theory (Milgram)
What is a agentic state?
A mindset which allows us to carry out orders from an authority figure, even if they conflict with our personal sense of right and wrong. We absolve ourselves of responsibility, believing that as we are acting on someone else behalf, blame for any negative consequences ultimately lies with them.
Obedience: Agency Theory (Milgram)
What is agentic shift?
The switch between the autonomous and agentic state that occurs when we perceive someone to be a legitimate source of authority and allow them to control our behaviour.
Obedience: Agency Theory (Milgram)
What is moral strain?
A state of mental discomfort or anxiety experienced in the agentic state when a person’s actions conflict with their personal morality.
Obedience: Agency Theory (Milgram)
What is agency theory?
Milgram believed that we operate on two levels:
As autonomous individuals, conscientious and aware of the consequences of our behaviour.
As agentic individuals seeing ourselves as the puppets of others and no longer responsible for our actions.
The process of moving between these is called the agentic shift. Normally we behave as autonomous, but under certain circumstances we undergo agentic shift and move to the agentic level.
