PSYC 1010 Study Guide - Quiz Guide: Theory-Theory, The The

• School: York University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 1010
• Professor: ozzy mermut

Document Summary

This activity will help you to: understand milgram"s agency theory of obedience, understand and recall additional studies of obedience, use research evidence to assess psychological theories. In other words, they act as agents for another person"s will. Milgram suggested that two things must be in place in order for a person to enter the agentic state: the person giving the orders is perceived as being qualified to direct other people"s behaviour. That is, they are seen as legitimate: the person being ordered about is able to believe that the authority will accept responsibility for what happens. The point about perceiving the authority as legitimate is that this is usually an assumption that people make, based on evidence that may or may not be relevant. For example, people in uniforms are often perceived to be legitimate authorities, as are people that claim to have a particular status.