explanations for obedience

• agentic state

  when someone is higher up the social hierarchy, you act as an agent for them and we are following orders, feel powerless to disobey
• autonomous state

  where we are independent and have free will over our actions
• agentic shift

  when ordered by an authority figure we shift from autonomous state to agentic state
• binding factors

  aspects of the situation that allows the person to ignore the damaging effect of their behaviour and thus reducing the moral strain they are feeling
• legitimate authority

  some people have power to punish others
• destructive authority

  when authority figures have exploited legitimate authority to cause destruction