AGENCY THEORY

Question 1

Who created agency theory?

Answer 1

Milligram

Question 2

Why was agency theory developed?

Answer 2

Milgram rejected the dispositional explanations that Nazi war crimes occurred because of something particular brutal in the German national character. He created agency theory as a response.

Question 3

How is agency theory significant?

Answer 3

• It underlines all Miligrams obedience studies
• It is a deterministic theory, suggesting people have much less free well than they think when it comes to decision-making
• It shows how people’s own decisions are actually expressions of their social situation
• it ties into the key question in social psychology, since it helps explain prejudice and how to reduce it

Question 4

What is the agentic shift?

Answer 4

When we enter an autonomous state from an agentic state and shift responsibility onto someone else when in the presence of an authority figure
- An order from an authority figure triggers and agentic shift into an agentic state

Question 5

How does Milgram explain the agentic shift?

Answer 5

• Milgram argues that obedience is a survival trait that allows a society to function.
• Hierarchy has evolved because obedience ensures a stable society and survival, it creates social order and harmony
• We have been conditioned to obey from a early age through socialisation, reward and punishments
• To enable us to give up a degree of our free will we have evolved 2 states: Agentic and Autonomous
• We use agentic state to avoid moral strain
• As obedience has become social etiquette, an agentic state has become a key part of our lives as it is a strategy to cope with doing things we don’t want to do

Nazi Germany that is an example of agentic shift backfiring because people obeyed orders when they should’ve rebelled against

Question 6

Nature and nurture in obedience

Answer 6

Evolution may have given us a predisposition towards obedience and hierarchy, but it is also strengthened by our upbringing. They are complementary explanations.

Question 7

Evaluating Agency Theory (strength) - Bushman (1988)

Answer 7

• He recreated Milgram study but varied the authoritativeness of the authority figure
• When the authority figure had more perceived status (i.e uniform) obedience rates were higher

Question 8

Evaluating Agency Theory (strength) - application to real life

Answer 8

• It can explain the reluctance of people who become “whistle blowers”
• E.g - the US military now have ethical guidelines for soldiers who are encouraged to challenge perceived immoral orders from senior officers
• E.g - In 1943 a group of German women protested in Berlin where the Gestapo were holding 2000 Jewish men (who were married to non-Jewish partners or were children of mixed marriages) despite threats to be shot, the woman remained and eventually the Jews were set free. The presence of disobedient peers gave the woman more confidence and courage to resist the authority of the Gestapo together.

Question 9

Evaluating Agency Theory (strength) - Tarnow (2000)

Answer 9

Provides support for agency theory and the power of legitimate authority
- He analysed serious aircraft accidents in the US
- Tarnow found that excessive dependence on the captains authority and expertise resulted in many accident - the captains definition of the situation was accepted and not challenged sufficiently, such lack of monitoring accounted for 19/37 accidents

Question 10

Evaluating Agency Theory (strength) - Meeus & Raaijmakers (1985)

Answer 10

• Study of obedience showed that pps were prepared to inflict psychological harm when instructed to do so by perceived authority figure (levels of obedience were 92%)
• As psychological harm is much more common than physical harm this research might have more ecological validity than other obedience research and can explain real life experiences

Question 11

Evaluating Agency Theory (Weakness) - Zimbardo et al

Answer 11

• Some argue that Milgram theories are not necessarily explained by being in an agentic state but more by individual differences in personality
• Zimbardo et al showed that within a few days ‘guards’ inflicted rapidly escalating cruelty on increasingly submissive prisoners despite the fact that there was no obvious authority figure instructing them to do so

Question 12

Evaluating Agency Theory (Weakness) - Circular argument

Answer 12

An agentic state is generated when an order is given by perceived authority figure, however this concept is an internal mental process that cannot be measured directly only inferred from behaviour - it becomes a circular argument: agency theory cannot be defined independently from obedience - people obey because they are in an agentic state but are in an agentic state because they obey

Question 13

Evaluating Agency Theory (Strength) - Face validity

Answer 13

In his court martial, following the Mai Lai massacre, Lt Calley claimed he was simply following orders.
- This justification has been cited in many real life cases of atrocities and offers some support for agency theory involving displacement of responsibility.