Agency theory

Da_hopeful_1

Can someone please give the link between Milgram's agency theory and Obedience

Reply 1

billet-doux

The agency theory is that people act as agents of other people. This means that people do not feel responsible for their own actions, and blame their actions on someone else. This was one of the reasons for obedience in Milgram's experiment because participants knew that the experimenter was responsible for whatever happened to the "student" who was being shocked, therefore they were more likely to obey. If participants were told that they were responsible for what happens to the "student" then there would have been a lower level of obedience in Milgram's experiment.

Reply 2

Hannah_Jeffries

The agency theory suggests that we have two states
Agentic - We act as agents of others and surrender our free will
Autonomous- We act of our own free will and are aware/responsible of the consequences

Thus connects to obedience as when we are in the agentic state we are being obedient i.e. Nazi soldiers claimed to have been in the agentic state (or similar description dont think theory was proposed by then) thus commited the holocaust not because they were sickos

In milgrams study the 'teacher' was in a the agentic state as they acted in the interest of the scientist when they thought it was hurting the learner mr. Wallace -- in the end they were giving shocks when they thought the learner was dead

Hope that helps : )