social psychology: Agency theory Flashcards
What is Obedience?
Obedience is the social influence in which an individual follows an order. This is usually from a social hierarchy figure in which they have the power to punish if obedience was not forthcoming. The task is usually a task that the individual would not have done unless ordered to by the social authorative figure and they respond in a way that they would not otherwise have done.
What are the origins of obedience? (the introduction)
Agency theory was proposed by Stanley Milgram (1974). He proposed that society was ordered in a social hierarchy and that people below you in the social hierarchy needed to be obedient to those higher in order for society to run and function. This meaning that people would have to give up their own personal desires in order to carry out the wishes of their superiors. Milgram suggested that we have two mindsets or states: the autonomous and the agentic state.
What is the autonomous state?
The autonomous state is ‘self directed’ and the resting state that an individual is commonly in. It is where an individual has the power to make their own decisions and have their own opinions. They also take the consequences for their own actions and decide what is right and wrong to guide their own choices. People are usually in this state when they are alone, with peers and with people who they believe are lower in the social hierarchy.
What is making the agentic shift?
when meeting with others, we quickly judge if they are higher or lower than us in the social hierarchy and the extent to which they have legitimate authority. Authority is legitimate when you have the consensus that a person has the right to make orders and enforce obedience. When confronted with a legitimate authority figure, we change from the autonomous state to the agentic state. We then become the authoritative figures ‘agent’. This is where we believe our own actions are taken the responsibility of by the authoritative figure and our actions lie with them. we may follow the orders of an authoritative figure feeling as if we have no choice but to obey and do things we would not normally do. This is what Milgram thinks leads people to commit acts of destructive obedience.
What is moral strain?
When in the agentic state, people can experience feelings of anxiety when following orders that can lead people to harm. This is Moral strain. An example of this is when you believe harming someone is bad, however your actions are harming people. These two conflicting ideas cause cognitive dissonance which is a state of mental conflict that can lead to moral strain. However, not many peoples obedience is destructed by this due to powerful binding factors that mean obedience is not effected and the individual stays in the agentic state. This means it does not jeopardise the status quo.
What is a strength of Milgram’s agency theory? (volts)
A strength of agency theory is that it is supported by Milgram’s study (1963). Milgram found that 100% of people elicited the shock of 300V to a confederate when answering wrong in a word learning task. He also found that 65% of people administered the highest shock of 450V, this being beyond the shock level reading ‘danger, extreme shock’. This is a strength of milligrams study as it supports the idea that when faced with an authoritative figure, despite high levels of moral strain, people are likely to carry out orders and obedience still follows.
What is a weakness of Milgram’s Agency theory? (Perry)
However, a weakness of Milgram’s study would be the lack of internal validity. Perry (2012) found that many participants could see through the deception of this study. Perry examined recently released evidence in Yale Universities archives of his study that many people thought the electric shocks were fake. This causing for 60% of people in all of Milgram’s variation studies disobeyed the experimenter. This reinterpretation causing for agency theory to be in question.
What is a strength of agency theory?
A strength of agency theory is the application it has within the Military. Milgram found that if binding factors outweigh moral strain then obedience follows. This had been applied to the military in order for soldiers to follow orders without question by reducing moral strain. An example of this is to use euphemisms in order to dehumanise the enemy. This shows that an authoritative figures communication can minimise moral strain and keep soldiers in the agentic state even when ordered to commit barbaric acts, including torture.
What is a weakness of Agency theory? (agentic shift)
A weakness of agency theory is that an agentic shift isn’t always inevitable. Rank and Jacobson (1977) carried out a study on 18 nurses. 16 out of 18 (89%) acted disobediently to a doctor who asked them to administer an overdose of the drug valium. This shows that although a doctor is a clear authoritative figure to the nurses, the majority remained in an autonomous state even once ordered to do something by a socially hierarchical figure. This showing that the nurses did consider themselves to be responsible for their own actions.
Conclusion for agency theory evaluation?
Overall, despite Milgram carrying out well-controlled studies his study’s are oversimplified and overstated. Agentic shift is shown to not always be inevitable making it more useful for society to examine the factors that lead them to resist destructive dissonance and what allows them to think more independently and take greater conscious control of their actions.
