Agency Theory

Milgram says society is hierarchial -due to evolution. Through socialisation, we are taught to obey people further up the hierarchy than us. 

We have 2 states: autonomy and agency

• given order by authority figure we won't normally do
• moral strain/agentic shift
• cause feeling of anxiety and distress
• shift relieves the moral strain as responsibility displaced to authority figure
• no longer feel responsible (in agentic state)
• shifts are a result of evolution - would have been essential for survival in cavemen times

You do as you want - responsibility on you

Where you do the will of others - not your fault

• Milgram's ppt showed moral strain and blaimed experimenter
• Explains people that "just follow orders" like Eichmann
• Explains real life situations such as Holocaust
• Backed up by other studies including Hofling

• Doesn't explain individual differences and why some people disobey
• Doesn't explain free will
• Difficult to pinpoint agentic shift
• Milgrams ppts should be relaxed when they became fully agentic but still showed moral strain