Explanations of obedience (agentic state and
legitimacy of authority)
“Outline and evaluate explanations for obedience” – 16 marks
A01- Key points
- Agentic state: the state in which a person feels no responsibility for their actions. Outwardly
idolise their parents but inwardly have anger towards them which they displace onto those
they see as “inferior”. Obey those who are perceived to have authority. They feel no moral
strain.
- Autonomic state: the opposite of the agentic state. Someone who feels high moral strain for
their actions and takes responsibility.
- Agentic shift: the change from the autonomic state to the agentic state. Usually occurs when
we perceive someone new with authority.
- Binding factors: these are factors which keep a person in the agentic state. This is through
reducing moral strain on the person in ways such as denying the fact the victim is suffering to
reduce guilt or another is shifting the blame to victims.
- Legitimacy of authority: seeing if a person’s status of authority is credible or not. Often
learnt at childhood e.g. through our parents or teachers.
- Destructive authority: people who abuse their authority by punishing or abusing their
position onto other people.
A03- Evaluation
- Practical Applications: legitimacy of authority could explain why real-life war crimes
occurred, such as Hitler’s reign in WW2. It can teach society on how to prevent such
occurrences from happening in the future like teaching from a younger age how to resist
obedience from certain people.
- Agentic state is immeasurable: as psychologists, it is impossible to tell if a person is in the
agentic state or not, we can only guess based off the behaviours and actions. Therefore, this
is a biased outlook and doesn’t consider approaches such as the biological approach which
could have a factor in obedience.
- Cultural differences: only 16% of Australians shocked to full voltage whereas 85% of
Germans shocked to full voltage. This increases the explanations of obedience in that the
cross-cultural research shows the different ways in which children are exposed to the
understanding of authority figures in different cultures.
legitimacy of authority)
“Outline and evaluate explanations for obedience” – 16 marks
A01- Key points
- Agentic state: the state in which a person feels no responsibility for their actions. Outwardly
idolise their parents but inwardly have anger towards them which they displace onto those
they see as “inferior”. Obey those who are perceived to have authority. They feel no moral
strain.
- Autonomic state: the opposite of the agentic state. Someone who feels high moral strain for
their actions and takes responsibility.
- Agentic shift: the change from the autonomic state to the agentic state. Usually occurs when
we perceive someone new with authority.
- Binding factors: these are factors which keep a person in the agentic state. This is through
reducing moral strain on the person in ways such as denying the fact the victim is suffering to
reduce guilt or another is shifting the blame to victims.
- Legitimacy of authority: seeing if a person’s status of authority is credible or not. Often
learnt at childhood e.g. through our parents or teachers.
- Destructive authority: people who abuse their authority by punishing or abusing their
position onto other people.
A03- Evaluation
- Practical Applications: legitimacy of authority could explain why real-life war crimes
occurred, such as Hitler’s reign in WW2. It can teach society on how to prevent such
occurrences from happening in the future like teaching from a younger age how to resist
obedience from certain people.
- Agentic state is immeasurable: as psychologists, it is impossible to tell if a person is in the
agentic state or not, we can only guess based off the behaviours and actions. Therefore, this
is a biased outlook and doesn’t consider approaches such as the biological approach which
could have a factor in obedience.
- Cultural differences: only 16% of Australians shocked to full voltage whereas 85% of
Germans shocked to full voltage. This increases the explanations of obedience in that the
cross-cultural research shows the different ways in which children are exposed to the
understanding of authority figures in different cultures.
