AO1:
Agentic state: Legitimacy of authority:
● Milgram argued that people make an agentic shift, back and forth between an ● People are most obedient when t
autonomous state and an agentic state. legitimate.
● Autonomous state: acting on your own decisions. ● Legitimate social power is held by
teachers) whose role is defined by
● Agentic shift: acting on the orders of someone else who is perceived as having a
higher authority. ● This usually gives the person the r
and others will usually accept it.
● An agentic shift may occur when a person is able to diffuse responsibility for
their actions onto another person. By doing this they no longer view themselves ● Milgram conducted a variation of
as acting out their own wishes but see themselves as an agent carrying out this variation, 48% of participants
wishes of others. obedience in the prestigious unive
legitimacy of the university increa
● Obedience was high in Milgram’s original study when the experimenter was in experimenter, as well as the amou
the same room as the participant (65%) but was reduced when Milgram asked leading to higher obedience rates
the experimenter to give instructions via the telephone rather than being in the
same room as the participant (20.5%).
AO3:
Agentic state Legitimacy of authority
P A strength of the agentic state as an explanation of obedience is that it has P A strength of legitimacy of authori
research support. research support.
E For example, research found that the participants who gave the most electric E For example, a researcher studied
shocks when ordered to do so in a torture simulation tended to hold the Board review of air traffic accident
experimenter and the victim responsible for what happened, rather than major contributory factor was the
themselves. feeling unable to challenge wrong
E This refusal to accept personal responsibility in participants who were most E This shows that the legitimate auth
obedient showed that the agentic state does explain why people will obey even of the co-pilots, eventually leading
in situations where they know their actions are wrong. L This increases the validity of legitim
L This increases the validity of the agentic state explanation of obedience. obedience This increases the valid
of obedience.
Agentic state: Legitimacy of authority:
● Milgram argued that people make an agentic shift, back and forth between an ● People are most obedient when t
autonomous state and an agentic state. legitimate.
● Autonomous state: acting on your own decisions. ● Legitimate social power is held by
teachers) whose role is defined by
● Agentic shift: acting on the orders of someone else who is perceived as having a
higher authority. ● This usually gives the person the r
and others will usually accept it.
● An agentic shift may occur when a person is able to diffuse responsibility for
their actions onto another person. By doing this they no longer view themselves ● Milgram conducted a variation of
as acting out their own wishes but see themselves as an agent carrying out this variation, 48% of participants
wishes of others. obedience in the prestigious unive
legitimacy of the university increa
● Obedience was high in Milgram’s original study when the experimenter was in experimenter, as well as the amou
the same room as the participant (65%) but was reduced when Milgram asked leading to higher obedience rates
the experimenter to give instructions via the telephone rather than being in the
same room as the participant (20.5%).
AO3:
Agentic state Legitimacy of authority
P A strength of the agentic state as an explanation of obedience is that it has P A strength of legitimacy of authori
research support. research support.
E For example, research found that the participants who gave the most electric E For example, a researcher studied
shocks when ordered to do so in a torture simulation tended to hold the Board review of air traffic accident
experimenter and the victim responsible for what happened, rather than major contributory factor was the
themselves. feeling unable to challenge wrong
E This refusal to accept personal responsibility in participants who were most E This shows that the legitimate auth
obedient showed that the agentic state does explain why people will obey even of the co-pilots, eventually leading
in situations where they know their actions are wrong. L This increases the validity of legitim
L This increases the validity of the agentic state explanation of obedience. obedience This increases the valid
of obedience.
