A person who is perceived to be in a positon of social control within a situation
- People expect there to be a socially controlling figure (EG: the experimenter is expected to be in charge in Milgram’s study)
- People tend to allow the legitimate authority figure to define a situation
- An institutional structure and uniform helps an authority figure to be perceived as legitimate—especially if the commands are of a potentially harmful or destructive nature
Agentic state
- Person sees themselves as an agent for carrying out another person’s wishes
- Agentic shift: moving from an autonomous state to an agentic state
- Autonomous state = responsible for their own actions
- Agentic state = attribute responsibility to someone else
People may adopt an agentic state in order to maintain a positive self-image. Actions performed in the agentic state are guilt-free as it is not their responsibility.
An individual is bound into the agentic state for fear of breaking the commitment made to the authority figure and appearing rude and arrogant.
