Obedience: social-psychological factors

Agentic state
The agentic state is a mental state where we feel no personal responsibility for our behaviour because we believe ourselves to be acting through an authority figure, i.e. as their agent. This frees us from the demands of our consciences and allows us to obey even a destructive authority figure. Agents experience 'moral strain' when they realise what they are doing is wrong but feel powerless to disobey

Autonomous state
The autonomous state is the opposite of being in an agentic state - we are free to behave according to our own principles and feel a sense of responsibility for our actions

Agentic shift
The shift from autonomy to agency is called the 'agentic shift'. Milgram (1974) suggested that this occurs when a person perceives someone else as a figure of authority. In most socical groups, when one person is in charge, others defer to…