Milgram's Destructive Disobedience Essay

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The most direct form of social influence is obedience in which a person gives direct orders for others to follow and they are carried out accordingly. According to Baron (2012, p. 283-285), the dilemma of destructive obedience occurs as a result of following orders which are considered immoral and can cause distress and regret. Baron (2012) discusses Stanley Milgram’s experiments on destructive disobedience in which subjects were given direct orders to inflict pain on another person. “Psychologists and the public both found that Milgram’s results highly disturbing, His studies seemed to suggest that ordinary people are willing, although with some reluctance, to harm an innocent stranger if ordered to do so by someone in authority” (Baron, …show more content…

The factors that play a role in destructive disobedience often occur as a result of people having a strong tendency to obey. Initially, the tendency to obey those in positions of authority remove the personal responsibility of the actions carried out because they were “following orders”; this is common in military situations. Secondly, those in authority have obvious visible signs of their status (i.e. badge or uniform) which as an acceptable social norm symbolically indicating a position of authority and one is expected to obey those in charge. As Authority slowly becomes established, the tendency to obey becomes greater; “commands are gradual in nature and do not start out with orders to perform extreme actions” ( (Baron, 2012, p. 284). Lastly, when events move at a fast pace, the tendency to obey becomes more automatic with little chance to consider options or disobedience and may also increase …show more content…

254). Civilized societies all have social norms which are rules such as etiquette and protocols of accepted behaviors that vary from culture to culture. Conformity is social pressure to behave in a manner consistent with what is expected in a given situation. Since one is more cognizant of their own thoughts and feelings, one underestimates the influence conformity has over them. This is known as introspection illusion which assumes that conformity affects others more than oneself; conformity often occurs nonconsciously without attention to one’s own behavior and easily noticing the conformity of

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