Strengths

• There is research to support for the role of the agentic state in obedience.
• Blass and Schmidt(2001) showed the Milgram film to students. They were asked who they thought was responsible for the 'harm to the learner'. Most blamed the experimenter and not the actual ppts delivering the 'shocks'.
• This supports this explanation because the students recognised legitimate authority as the cause of obedience, placing responsibility on the person giving orders, rather than emphasising the role of ppt in administrating shocks.
• This suggests Milgram's ppts experienced agentic shift suggesting validity to the explanation.