social agency theory

• made by?

  Milgram (1973/74)
• what are the two ways of acting/states?

  • autonomous= freely chosen behaviour, person believes they are in power and are guided by own moral code.
  • agentic= allows someone else to direct behaviour, other person taking responsibility. acts against own moral code
• how can the agentic state be described?

  • via evolution (survival strategy). Threatening situation= agentic state will follow orders and fight as group which helps society function smoothly.
  • learned in childhood- from parents, teachers and legal system in adulthood.
• when did Milgram suggest people feel moral strain?

  feel their obedient behaviour is wrong and goes against own moral values, eg experiment where they followed experimenters rules but it felt wrong to do so.
• evidence?

  • supports moral strain concept- Ps showed visible signs of distress when given order to harm innocent person.
  • concept of displacement of responsibility. Hofling (1966) nurses follow doctors orders when asked to give patient 2x daily dosage needed, so nurses displaced responsibility.
  • lacks direct evidence. internal mental processes cannot be directly observed (LOW IN VALIDITY)
  • more of a description than an explanation, people tend to obey authority- why?
• Methodology?

  • studies used standardised procedures, means replicability is high. ability to manipulate IV means cause and effect links can be inferred, increasing credibility.
  • lack mundane realism, shocking someone does not happen in real life commonly so ecological validity lowered, cannot generalise outside a lab.
• applications?

  • explains real life events eg. obedience to authority
  • different cultural studies support. Meeus and Raajmaker found Dutch Ps would harass job applicant if told to do so.
  • can apply to real life (Hofling)
  • doesn't explain individual differences, why do some obey and some don't?
• alternative theory?

  social impact theory