AO3

• People not always in the agentic state


  Milgram claimed that people shift back and forth between the agentic and autonomous states
• This does not explain the gradual and irreversible transition Lifton found in German doctors in Auschwitz
• Staub (1989) suggests that


  It is the experience of carrying out acts of evil over a long time that changes the way in which people think and behave
• SPE study guards rapidly escalated cruelty to prisoners


  Even though they had no authority figure telling them to do so
• Individuals therefore do not obey but rather merely express their own desires
• ·         There are positive consequences of obedience to legitimate authority (e.g. responding to a police officer in an emergency) - but it can also justify the harming of others e.g. military. 
• ·         Real life example – Tarnow (2000) analysed aircraft accidents where flight crew were responsible and found officers followed captains orders because they assumed he was right = shows we don't questions authority even in dangerous situations.