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Factors which influence conformity and obedience
Factors which influence conformity and obedience
Factors which influence conformity and obedience
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On some level, whether it is to our teachers, bosses, or just the local government, the majority of us are obedient. According to Yale psychologist Stanley Milgram, “Obedience is as basic an element in the structure of social life as one can point to” (631). Society would lack order and be full of chaos without obedience. Authority helps society function; obeying that authority ensures stability. But at what point does obedience cross the line from advantageous to detrimental? Obedience becomes dangerous when it is harmful to one’s self or others.
A classic example of dangerous obedience is demonstrated by Nazi official Adolf Eichmann. Throughout his trial for war crimes, Eichmann proclaimed his innocence. He placed the blame on his superiors and said he was simply following orders: orders that involved sending millions of people to extermination camps and ultimately their deaths. In their separate writings about obedience, Milgram and psychoanalyst Erich Fromm both compare Eichmann to the ordinary person, someone we can all see ourselves in. While he may not be the ideal person to be equated to, Eichmann’s submission to authority is understandable: had he refused his orders, he most likely would have been arrested or killed, then replaced by someone who was willing to follow commands. So it’s quite probable that those millions of people still would have been executed, with or without Eichmann’s compliance.
Obedience is also seen by many as the path of least resistance; it isn’t as mentally demanding to follow someone’s orders. Assuming authority figures know what is best for everyone, it is simpler to do what we are told than to have to think for ourselves. But once we stop thinking for ourselves and begin following orders bli...
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... by greed, then humanity would not stand a chance at progressing. In her article “Group Minds,” author Doris Lessing’s general thesis is that humanity is “now in possession of a great deal of hard information about ourselves, but we do not use it to improve our institutions and therefore our lives” (653). By not utilizing everything we have learned throughout history, we are doing ourselves and others a great injustice.
Not all authority is corrupt, so therefore obedience is not always a bad thing. Following moral and just authorities will allow society to continue functioning for many generations to come. Standing up for what we believe in is one of the main reasons civilization has been able to advance throughout the years. There is a good chance that continuing to obey corrupt people and losing our backbones could eventually lead to the destruction of humanity.
In "The Perils of Obedience," Stanley Milgram conducted a study that tests the conflict between obedience to authority and one's own conscience. Through the experiments, Milgram discovered that the majority of people would go against their own decisions of right and wrong to appease the requests of an authority figure.
The power of blind obedience taints individuals’ ability to clearly distinguish between right and wrong in terms of obedience, or disobedience, to an unjust superior. In the article “The Abu Ghraib Prison Scandal: Sources of Sadism,” Marianne Szegedy-Maszak discusses the unwarranted murder of innocent individuals due to vague orders that did not survive with certainty. Szegedy-Maszak utilizes the tactics of authorization, routinization, and dehumanization, respectively, to attempt to justify the soldiers’ heinous actions (Szegedy-Maszak 76-77). In addition, “Just Do What the Pilot Tells You” by Theodore Dalrymple distinguishes between blind disobedience and blind obedience to authority and stating that neither is superior;
Obedience is when you do something you have been asked or ordered to do by someone in authority. As little kids we are taught to follow the rules of authority, weather it is a positive or negative effect. Stanley Milgram, the author of “The perils of Obedience” writes his experiment about how people follow the direction of an authority figure, and how it could be a threat. On the other hand Diana Baumrind article “Review of Stanley Milgram’s experiments on obedience,” is about how Milgram’s experiment was inhumane and how it is not valid. While both authors address how people obey an authority figure, Milgram focuses more on how his experiment was successful while Baumrind seems more concerned more with how Milgram’s experiment was flawed and
An powerful leader can lead people to do many things, even when a leader is evil, men will still obey the authority figure. One example of this obedience is where the German citizens allow the Nazi soldiers to live in their homes. This example shows that the citizens are following this authority figure. The obedience is
Obedience may be a simple word, yet it has a powerful impact on the daily lives of millions. Obedience is simply when one follows the orders or directions of another figure, presumably in an authoritative position. This is something nearly everyone bows to everyday without even realizing it - and it can drastically change our lives as we know it. Obedience is, for example, how the holocaust happened. The Germans were ordinary people turned into murderers because they followed the orders of one man - their dictator, Adolf Hitler. Of course, obedience does not always result in horrid results such as the holocaust or result in such a large catastrophe. Obedience can have drastic effects on the lives of only a few men as well; this is showcased in the movie A Few Good Men.
If a person of authority ordered you inflict a 15 to 400 volt electrical shock on another innocent human being, would you follow your direct orders? That is the question that Stanley Milgram, a psychologist at Yale University tested in the 1960’s. Most people would answer “no,” to imposing pain on innocent human beings but Milgram wanted to go further with his study. Writing and Reading across the Curriculum holds a shortened edition of Stanley Milgram’s “The Perils of Obedience,” where he displays an eye-opening experiment that tests the true obedience of people under authority figures. He observes that most people go against their natural instinct to never harm innocent humans and obey the extreme and dangerous instructions of authority figures. Milgram is well aware of his audience and organization throughout his article, uses quotes directly from his experiment and connects his research with a real world example to make his article as effective as possible.
Obedience has always been a trait present in every aspect of society. Parents have practiced enforcing discipline in their homes where children learn obedience from age one. Instructors have found it difficult to teach a lesson unless their students submit to their authority. Even after the adolescent years, law enforcement officers and governmental officials have expected citizens to uphold the law and abide by the standards set in society. Few will understand, however, that although these requirements for obedience provide positive results for development, there are also dangers to enforcing this important trait. Obedience to authority can be either profitable or perilous depending on who the individual in command is. In the film, The Crucible,
Obedience and disobedience play a huge role in our lives as humans. We begin with disobedience. With that, though, we develop the ability to choose to obey or disobey. In doing this, we obey the highest calling that we must: human nature. No matter how we modernize as a society, the primal instincts and decisions that rise up in every human being are very much the same as they have always been.
Obedience is a widely debated topic today with many different standpoints from various brilliant psychologists. Studying obedience is still important today to attempt to understand why atrocities like the Holocaust or the My Lai Massacre happened so society can learn from them and not repeat history. There are many factors that contribute to obedience including situation and authority. The film A Few Good Men, through a military court case, shows how anyone can fall under the influence of authority and become completely obedient to conform to the roles that they have been assigned. A Few Good Men demonstrates how authority figures can control others and influence them into persuading them to perform a task considered immoral or unethical.
Individuals often yield to conformity when they are forced to discard their individual freedom in order to benefit the larger group. Despite the fact that it is important to obey the authority, obeying the authority can sometimes be hazardous especially when morals and autonomous thought are suppressed to an extent that the other person is harmed. Obedience usually involves doing what a rule or a person tells you to but negative consequences can result from displaying obedience to authority for example; the people who obeyed the orders of Adolph Hitler ended up killing innocent people during the Holocaust. In the same way, Stanley Milgram noted in his article ‘Perils of Obedience’ of how individuals obeyed authority and neglected their conscience reflecting how this can be destructive in experiences of real life. On the contrary, Diana Baumrind pointed out in her article ‘Review of Stanley Milgram’s Experiments on Obedience’ that the experiments were not valid hence useless.
Authority cannot exist without obedience. Society is built on this small, but important concept. Without authority and its required obedience, there would only be anarchy and chaos. But how much is too much, or too little? There is a fine line between following blindly and irrational refusal to obey those in a meaningful position of authority. Obedience to authority is a real and powerful force that should be understood and respected in order to handle each situation in the best possible manner.
These three åinfluences are very important to fully understand and grasp. Conformity has always been an interest of mine because it fascinates me why and how people conform to society and other figures. The literal definition of conformity is the change in one 's behavior to match a behavior modeled by another. There was a study done by Asch which modeled social influence this line study was done to see if the non confederate would model the behavior of the confederates. It turns out that this study did prove conformity about 75% of the participants conformed (Aronson, 2016). Some major contributions to conformity are; group size, status, and social validation. They are essential because as we saw in the elevator clip in class people have a highest tendency of conforming to a group size of 5 or more. People also conform to status, for example, people are more likely to listen to a man in a suit and tie, than a homeless man. This is all based on physical appearance. Which leads us to social validation, people often use other people 's actions/reactions to determine if theirs is correct and matches the model. This is often used in the business world because modeling is the most efficient way of reaching their customers. Equally important, obedience is the change in person 's expected behavior to an authority figure (Aronson, 2016). Milgram’s study supports and reflects this form of social influence. Furthermore, Milgram’s study brought interesting data in reference to obedience about 65 percent of participants carried out the orders of shock of the confederate. These results are shocking and expected, this is yet another study showing the evidence of social influence and authority figures have on an individual (Aronson, 2016). Authority being the third and final category of social influence is probably one of the most underestimated contributors of social influence. In particular,
...ot just blindly following someone else’s leadership. Obedience is making the decision to comply with a request. Furthermore, rebellion is not always a bad thing; occasionally to do the right thing we must rebel. In life, circumstances occur that require us to determine whether we are going to obey the authority over us or if we will rebel against it.
The concept of compliancy closely resembles the concept of conformity in the sense that individuals’ behaviors are adapted though the norms of their surrounding group. However, in comparison to obedience, compliancy is less as intense as obedience in which commands are given to an individual to perform behaviors and conform to beliefs by an authority figure. Compliance is more of
"Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom." As Aristotle indicates, it is important for one to introspect his or her own behavior and personality in order to truly be aware. A common failure at this personal introspection is the evaluation of obedience. Obedience has been well examined by psychologists such as Milgram, Zimbardo, and Ashe; yet, the topic continues to be perplexing as people continue to fail to understand how to properly identify and/or evaluate others as well as themselves on their level of obedience. Obedience is an integral quality in mankind that should be acknowledged as it is seen to affect our daily lives, contribute to terrible atrocities, and yet, it continues to be ignored.