O: social-psychological factors

• Agentic state: A mental state where we feel no personal responsibility for our behaviour because we believe ourselves to be acting for an authority figure.
• Autonomous state: A person who is free to behave according to their own principles and therefor feels a sense of responsibility.
• Agentic shift: The shift between autonomy and agency.
• Agentic shift occurs when a person perceives someone else as a figure of authority.
• Blinding factors: Aspects of the situation that allow the person to ignore or minimise the damaging effect of their behaviour and thus reduce the 'moral strain' they are feeling.
• Legitimacy of authority: An explanation for obedience which suggests that we are more likely to obey people who we perceive to have authority over us.
• Authority is justified by the individuals position of power.
• Destructive authority: History has too often shown that charismatic and powerful leaders can use their legitimate powers for destructive purposes.
• Research support: Blass and Schmitt showed a film of Milgram's study to students and asked them to identify who they thought was responsible.
• A limited explanation: The agentic shift doesn’t explain why some of the participants in Milgram's study did not obey.
• Agentic shift can only account for some situations.
• Legitimacy of authority accounts for cultural differences: Many studies have found that countries differ in the degree to which people are traditionally obedient to authority.
• Replicants of Milgram's study in Australia found that only 16% of participants went all the way on voltage, however, German participants obedience was 85%.
• In some cultures, authority is more likely to be accepted as legitimate.
• Supportive findings from cross-culture research increase the validity of legitimacy of authority.