Agentic state

The term agentic state refers to a psychological condition in which an individual acts on behalf of an authority figure or person of higher status, seeing themselves as their agent rather than acting on their own free will. In this state, people feel little or no personal responsibility for their actions and may not experience guilt, even when those actions conflict with their moral values.

The opposite of this is the autonomous state, in which individuals act according to their own principles and take full responsibility for their behaviour. The movement from autonomy to agency is known as the agentic shift.

Support for the agentic state explanation comes from further research by Milgram. In his original study, 65% of participants gave the maximum 450-volt shock. However, in a variation where a second confederate administered the shocks for the participant, obedience levels increased to 92.5%. This suggests that obedience is more likely when people can shift responsibility for their actions onto someone else.