Explanations

• What is the agentic state?

  A mental state where we feel no personal responsibility for our actions because we believe that we are acting for an authority figure. This frees us from the demands of our conscience and allows us to obey even a destructive authority figure.
• What is the opposite of the agentic state?

  The autonomous state.
• What is the autonomous state?

  A person is said to be in this state when they're free to behave according to their own principles and feels a sense of responsibility for their own actions.
• What is the shift from autonomy to agency known as?

  The agentic shift
• When does Milgram suggest the agentic shift occurs?

  When a person perceives someone as an authority figure who has greater power because they have a higher position in a social hierarchy.
• What keeps a person in an agentic state?

  Binding factors keep a person in an agentic state by allowing them to ignore or minimise the damaging effect of their behaviour, reducing any 'moral strain' that they were feeling.
• What is legitimacy of authority?

  An explanation for obedience that suggests that we are more likely to obey to people who we see to have authority over us. This authority is justified as legitimate by the individual's position of power within a social hierarchy.
• Why do most people accept that authority figures are allowed to exercise social power over others?

  Because we believe this allows society to function smoothly. We're willing to give up some of our independence and hand control of our behaviour over to people we trust to exercise their authority appropriately.
• How do we learn acceptance of legitimacy of authority?

  We learn it from childhood, from our parents and then teachers, etc.
• Unfortunately, some charismatic and powerful leaders have historically used their legitimate powers for destructive purposes. The destructive authority figures have ordered people to behave in ways that are cruel and dangerous.
• Authoritarian Personality:

  Adorno et al - Argued that people with an authoritarian personality show extreme respect for authority and believe the world needs strong and powerful leaders to enforce traditional values. Both of these characteristics make people with an authoritarian personality more likely to obey orders from a source of authority.
• People with authoritarian personalities:

  They show contempt for those of an inferior social status and believe there are no 'grey areas'. Everything is either right or wrong and they are uncomfortable with uncertainty.
• Due to people with authoritarian personalities showing contempt for those of inferior statuses they believe 'others' that belong to a different ethnic group are an issue in society. 'Other' people are a convenient target to obey orders from authority figures even when such orders are destructive e.g. Nazi Germany.