What is the agentic shift in Milgram's framework?

What is the agentic shift in Milgram's framework?

• A. From a state of autonomous action to a state of personal choice and responsibility.
• B. From adopting the role of the authority to becoming a participant.
• C. A shift that increases personal guilt for harming others.
• D. The process where an individual shifts from the autonomous state to the agentic state, acting on behalf of an authority and feeling less responsible.

Answer: (D)

The agentic shift is when a person moves from acting with their own autonomy to taking on the role of an agent for an authority, so they carry out orders as if they are acting for someone else and feel less personally responsible for the consequences. In Milgram’s obedience work, this explains why participants complied with harmful instructions: they attributed action to the experimenter’s authority rather than to their own choices, reducing their sense of personal culpability. This fits the described option because it highlights the shift from autonomous action to an agentic state, with responsibility transferred to an authority. The other ideas describe either the opposite (taking personal responsibility) or a different role dynamic (becoming the authority or simply increasing guilt), which don’t capture the core process Milgram identified.

The agentic shift is when a person moves from acting with their own autonomy to taking on the role of an agent for an authority, so they carry out orders as if they are acting for someone else and feel less personally responsible for the consequences. In Milgram’s obedience work, this explains why participants complied with harmful instructions: they attributed action to the experimenter’s authority rather than to their own choices, reducing their sense of personal culpability.

This fits the described option because it highlights the shift from autonomous action to an agentic state, with responsibility transferred to an authority. The other ideas describe either the opposite (taking personal responsibility) or a different role dynamic (becoming the authority or simply increasing guilt), which don’t capture the core process Milgram identified.