Thread Academy

Obedience

Ordinary people, told by an authority figure to hurt a stranger, mostly obeyed — a finding that still disturbs.

  • Describe Milgram’s obedience study
  • Explain the agentic state
  • Discuss what the study tells us about evil

Obedience

After the Holocaust, the question burned: were the perpetrators monsters, or ordinary people in monstrous situations? Milgram tested it in a lab.

Definition: Agentic state

The agentic state is when a person sees themselves as an agent carrying out another’s wishes — shifting responsibility to the authority figure, which makes harmful obedience psychologically easier.

Key points

  • Milgram (1963): 65% of participants delivered the maximum 450V shock when ordered.
  • Proximity matters: obedience fell when the ‘learner’ was in the same room.
  • Legitimacy matters: obedience fell when the experimenter seemed less authoritative.
  • Lesson: situations shape behaviour more than personality does — but that doesn’t excuse it.
‘I was just following orders’

Participants sweated, trembled and protested — yet continued when the experimenter said ‘the experiment requires that you continue’. Distress plus obedience: the agentic state in action.

Practice

What is the agentic state, and how does it explain Milgram’s results?
Responsibility shifts.

Participants acted as the experimenter’s agents, feeling he was responsible — so they obeyed despite distress.

Give one criticism of Milgram’s study.
Ethics — or realism.

Ethics: severe deception and stress without true consent. Or: demand characteristics — participants may have guessed the shocks weren’t real.

Key takeaways
  • 65% obeyed to the maximum shock under authority.
  • Obedience depends on proximity and perceived legitimacy.
  • The agentic state shifts felt responsibility upward.
  • Situations powerfully shape — but don’t excuse — behaviour.
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