Agency Theory

• Agentic state- a person unthinkingly carries out orders on behalf of an authority figure, so they don't feel personal responsibility
• Binding factors of agentic shift- aspects of a situation which help people to ignore the negative effects of their behaviour, reducing moral strain
• Agentic shift can be done through shifting responsibility or the denial of the damage caused.
• Supportive evidence of the Agency Theory:

  • Variation- confederate administered shocks instead of participants, 92.5% administered 450 volts
  • Shows power of agentic shift- responsibility is on the confederate as they administer the shocks, so participants continue to 450 volts as they feel less responsible
  • Ability to enter agentic state increases the level of obedience and decreases the level of personal responsibility
  • Pps perceived they were no longer responsible, becoming the experimenter's agent
• Contradictory evidence of the Agency Theory:

  • Rank and Jackobson- 16/18 nurses disobeyed orders from a doctor (over the phone) to overdose patients on Valium, showing almost all nurses remained autonomous even though the doctor was an authority figure
  • Agentic state only accounts for some situations of obedience, but obedience rates might increase if the doctor was in person (situational factor of proximity)
• Limitations of the Agency Theory:

  • Cannot explain behaviour displayed by Nazi's- German Police Reserve shot civilians despite not being ordered to do so, which challenges agentic state.
  • Behaviour might be explained by 'Plain Cruelty'- Zimbardo's pps might have shown cruelty due to their own tendencies, since their was no authority figure ordering them to do it.