1. Explanations for obedience Your task

2. Agency Theory is one possible explanation for obedience proposed by Milgram Evaluation point 1 Agency theory says people will obey orders if they perceive the authority giving the orders to be legitimate. This is supported by one of Milgram’s variation studies. He found that obedience rates dropped from 65% in the baseline condition to 47.5% when he moved the experiment away from prestigious Yale university to a downtown office block in Bridgeport. This supports Agency theory because as the legitimacy of the authority is reduced so too is the level of obedience.

3. Evaluation point 2 Agency theory as an explanation for obedience is further supported by the findings of Hofling (1966). In a real life hospital setting 21/22 nurses broke a number of hospital rules to obey the authority of a doctor. Only one nurse question the doctor’s legitimate authority to prescribe an unknown drug over the phone. Agency theory also states that for obedience to occur the authority has to accept responsibility for what happens. In both the Milgram study and the Hofling study the authority figure accepted responsibility. This could explain the high level of obedience found in both studies.

4. Evaluation point 3 Further evidence in support of Agency theory as a reasonable explanation for obedience comes from Bickman (1974). He found that members of the public were more likely to obey a man in a guards uniform than the same man dressed in just a jacket and tie. Clearly it is the perception of authority being legitimate which leads to the act of obedience.