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How does obedience affect behavior

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These results demonstrate that participants were willing to obey an authority figure and administer extremely harmful and potentially lethal shocks.

The Stanford prison experiment was a study, conducted by Philip Zimbardo at Stanford University in , of the psychological effects of becoming a prisoner or prison guard and. Students were selected to take on randomly assigned roles of prisoner or guard in a mock prison. The guards enforced authoritarian measures and ultimately subjected some of the prisoners to psychological and physical torture.

A fraction of the way through the experiment, Zimbardo announced an end to the study. The results of the study demonstrate the obedience of people when provided with a legitimizing ideology, along with social and institutional support.

The results indicate that environmental factors have a significant effect on behavior. After running these experiments, Milgram and Zimbardo concluded that the following factors affect obedience: the proximity to the authority figure, the closer the authority figure is, the more obedience is demonstrated. The prestige of the experimenter: something as simple as wearing a lab coat or not wearing a lab coat can affect levels of obedience; authority figures with more prestige elicit more obedience.

The expertise, a subject who has neither the ability nor the expertise to make decisions, especially in a crisis, will leave decision making to the group and its hierarchy. The ethical considerations raised by these studies are controversial. Specifically, the subjects were exposed to significant short-term stress, as well as potential long-term trauma.

Additionally, neither Milgram nor Zimbardo informed subjects ahead of time of the nature of their participation. Largely as a result of these experiments, ethical standards have been modified to protect participants.

Deindividuation and lack of expertise in the participants were also associated with higher levels of obedience. Zimbardo : is an American psychologist known for his Stanford prison experiment. Next Trial Session:. Recorded Trial Session. This is a recorded trial for students who missed the last live session. Waiting List Details:. Due to high demand and limited spots there is a waiting list. You will be notified when your spot in the Trial Session is available.

Next Trial:. Sign In. Factors Influencing Obedience After running these experiments, Milgram and Zimbardo concluded that the following factors affect obedience: the proximity to the authority figure, the closer the authority figure is, the more obedience is demonstrated.

Because the prisoners were treated badly, they tried to reassert their individuality by revolting against the prison guards. When the guards began using their authority to force the prisoners to clean the toilets, they began abusing their power, hoping that the prisoners would be obedient and give the guards a sick satisfaction.

One of the most well-known and well-publicized Nazi generals was Eichmann. During his trial, his defense was that he was merely carrying out orders from those above him. By using this defense, he attempted to remove the blame from himself. He obediently filled out the paperwork that was responsible for the deaths of thousands of Jews simply because his superiors ordered him to. Blind obedience that leads to nothing but pain and suffering is destructive and undeserving of followers; people deserve their independence and should open their eyes to what they are asked to do Milgram There exists a legal defense for those who try to escape blame by claiming they were only following orders: the Nuremberg Defense.

Popularized during the Nazi war trials, it is a frequent defense by corporations and low-level troops. Corporations use the Nuremberg defense when they go to court for reverse discrimination lawsuits, as the government did order them to hire more minorities Adversity. Beginning in , media attention was drawn to the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Reports stated that soldiers were following the orders of private contractors under command of the United States Department of Defense Lawful Orders.

Many of the soldiers claimed that the abuse was authorized by their superiors, attempting to shift the blame away from themselves Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse. That these soldiers, who Americans respect, have succumbed to the absolute authority of their superiors to perform inhumane acts on prisoners of war does not provide a suitable role model to Americans. The human race is defined by their actions towards others.

Causing harm to others merely because someone orders them to is not cause to follow through with the directive. If one has the choice to either follow orders or assert their individuality, the decision should be theirs to make. Definition of 'Nuremberg Defense'. Asch, Solomon E. Tenth Edition. Horton, Scott. Harper's Magazine. Milgram, Stanley. Zimbardo, Philip G. Leveillee, N. Leveillee, Nicholas P.

The Role of Obedience in Society. The newsletter highlights recent selections from the journal and useful tips from our blog. Inquiries Journal provides undergraduate and graduate students around the world a platform for the wide dissemination of academic work over a range of core disciplines. Representing the work of students from hundreds of institutions around the globe, Inquiries Journal 's large database of academic articles is completely free.

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Another smaller group of participants felt very bad about what they had done and took full responsibility for their actions and being very harsh on themselves. Finally, the smallest group of participants, immediately questioned the authority of the experimenter and grounded their decision to refuse to participate in the experiment a greater ethical imperative. The results of the Milgram experiment clearly show that different factors are play in defining human behavior.

However, it highlighted the importance of contextual factors such as submission to authority. Indeed those who challenged authority were in the minority. This characteristic of human behavior under pressure submitting quite naturally to authority is present in any kind of organizations.

During all my years investigating fraud cases in many different kinds of organizations, I have often observed how many ordinary people have felt compelled to engage into criminal activities due to submission to the wrong authority figures. You are commenting using your WordPress. You are commenting using your Google account. You are commenting using your Twitter account. You are commenting using your Facebook account. Notify me of new comments via email.


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