agency theory essay plan

• agency theory AO1

  . obedience serves an evolutionary #= survival function which allows our society to survive

  . obedience occurs through :

  1)nature - we are born with innate preparedness to be obedient

  2) nurture - our upbringing and socialisation (primary and secondary)

  we have 2 states

  1) autonomous, where we behave independently and take responsibility for our own actions

  2) agentic, where we rid ourselves of any responsibility by displacing it onto an authority figure which allows us to obey

  . moral strain = when we feel uncomfortable/stressed due to being in a situation choosing between disobeying authority and doing something immoral

  . to end moral strain we can:

  1) undergo agentic shift - shift to agentic state when we perceive legitimate authority so we can be controlled as responsibility can be displaced onto the authority figure = relieves us of responsibility

  2) adopt an autonomous state - disobey authority = end moral strain as individual has removed themselves from the situation
• agency theory AO3 strength

  . Evidence:

  . supported by Milgrams 1963 study - ppts showed distress (through nail biting, nervous laughter etc) and experienced moral strain in shocking people however obeyed due to displacement onto authority figure of experimenter = supports agentic state and moral strain

  .CA - internal validity of evidence is questioned as ppts may have realised shocks weren't real - 60% ppts said they questioned reality of the shocks = gives inaccurate data

  .So What: despite validity questioning, subsequent research eg Hofling showed similar results = evidence is supportive
• agency theory AO3 weakness

  . doesn't explain individual differences - disobedience can occur for many reasons eg personality such as authoritarian personalities more obedient = more complex process than theory explains + is unscientific as hard to measure the states of people = uncredible

  . CA - despite not accounting for all variables, offers a basic foundation to obedience + why we obey so other theories can develop of it

  . So what: lacking of account for ID = can't scientifically explain obedience in real life settings with real life people where different factors will be present = weakness