History Of Obedience And Conformity - 1729 Words

History of Obedience and Conformity With the utterance of â€Å"research in obedience,† Stanley Milgram is the epithet in social psychology. 56 years ago, Milgram tested the limits of a person s ability to commit deeds that would normally be directionally challenging to their moral compass when commanded to act by an authority figure. Just 15 years after the World War II Holocaust, the Milgram experiments was a social psychology response to a topic of â€Å"particular relevance† during that time (Milgram, 1963): Were Nazi officers following orders or can they be held accountable as accomplices (as cited by McLeod, 2007)? Milgram tested this theory by â€Å"ordering a naà ¯ve subject to administer [an] electric shock to a victim.†(Milgram, 1963). The†¦show more content†¦Elms describes his graduate work with Milgram at Yale Universtiy to be â€Å"extraordinary for [the] time,† yet due to ethical concerns have â€Å"in a sense [have] been frozen i n time† (Elms, 2009). If the research code of ethics locked down experiments such as Milgram’s, how then did Jerry Burger (2009) replicate Milgram without violating ethics standards? The very same question Elms (2009) has marveled in his critical review of Burger’s Replicating Milgram: Would people still obey today? Burger notes the crucial moment in Milgram’s procedure is â€Å"when the participant presses the 150-volt switch [and] the learner †¦demands to be released† (Burger, 2009) nearly all participants hesitate to show reluctance before continuing. Burger’s replication study stops the experiment at the moment that the participant decides to continue past 150-volts (2009). Burger also built in additional â€Å"safeguards† to ensure the protection of the participant s well-being including a two-part screening, three notifications that participants can stop anytime, a sample shock to the participant, immediate debrief and full disclosure of the experiments intentions. Burger’s results were similar to Milgram’s, with few intentional differences (2009). The two significant features of Milgram (1963) and Burger (2009), was forceful coercion of the authority figure to command obedienceShow MoreRelatedObedience and Conformity Essay508 Words   |  3 PagesObedience and Conformity Both obedience and conformity involve social pressure in obedience the pressure comes from behaving as you are instructed to do; whereas in conformity the pressure comes from group norms Behaviour in obedience is determined by social power, whereas in conformity it is influenced mostly by the need for acceptance. In nearly all societies, certain peopleRead MoreThe Science Of Social Psychology1329 Words   |  6 Pagesto decipher topics such as conformity, independence, and identity on a logical basis. We use it, to a degree, to study how every group has an impact on a singular entity, as well as how those impacts end up dictating the overall behavior of the entity. Hence, the apple analogy bears significant meaning: How do â€Å"good apples†, or normal, law abiding citizens, become â€Å"bad apples†, or the so called†scum of society†? Social dynamics affect elements such as conformity, obedience, and deindividualizationRead MoreEvaluation Of An Immersive Video Environment910 Words   |  4 Pagesparticipants were given questionnaires to scale their personality tendencies. In an immersive video environment, the participants who showed more immersion were also those who obeyed less. As a total, thirty-two percent of the participants showed full obedience, and went up to 450 volts. General result showed that participants obeyed more when the victim was hidden, regardless of the victim’s race. From the view of ethnicity, although there was no significant difference, participants reacted with less anxietyRead MoreThe Background on the Stanley Milgram Theory Essay1088 Words   |  5 Pagesfind out whether or not the Adolf Eichmann accomplice had the same intent and hate towards the Jewish people during the holocaust. Based on Solomon Asch’s past experiments on conformity, Milgram’s experiment was done to determine whether or not the power of the situation could cause average people to conform to obedience. The results of Milgram’s experiment were astounding. The research of Milgram’s experiment had such a major impact o n social psychology that we still use his findings to analyzeRead MoreDeception Is Not Based On Ethical Concerns1413 Words   |  6 Pagesour society’s shared intellectual legacy – that small body of historical incidents, biblical parables, and classic literature that serious thinkers feel free to draw on when they debate about human nature or contemplate human history† (Gilovich et al, 2012). Milgram Obedience Experiments Ethical and moral concerns often exist with the use of deception in psychological research and experiments. Bortolotti and Mameli (2006) argue that, with the satisfaction of some requirements, the possibility existRead MoreComparative Psychology : Zimbardo s Stanford Prison Study868 Words   |  4 Pagesthe most well known studies in the history of psychology: Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Study. While Reading 38 recounts a crucial study that demonstrated the power, conformity in determining behavior and 39 reveals a surprising phenomenon called the bystander effect. However, the fourth study is seen as another famous and surprising milestone in our understanding of the extremes people may resort to in powerful situations seen in Milgram’s study of blind obedience to authority. Nonetheless, startingRead MoreObedience, Disobedience And College1060 Words   |  5 PagesAdrian Nathaniel Soriano Prof. Saleem English 101A September 16, 2015 Obedience or Disobedience in College For a lot of people, especially those who have recently graduated from high school, college is completely different from the 4 whole years of high school. For many, it is a new chapter of life. Everything is different, from the experience itself, the environment, how students are treated in class, even punishments for breaking the rules is different in a way. Perhaps the most obvious differenceRead MoreConformity And Normative Social Psychology1538 Words   |  7 PagesSocial Psychology has always been a key element in our understanding of human behaviour. Conformity plays a big part in the history of social psychology; conformity (also known as Majority Influence) is a type of social influence that involves a person changing their thoughts and beliefs in order to fit into a group. An example of this is during WW2, in which Hitler used his dominating opinions and authority to influence the Nazis and obscure their views, which lead them to conform to the horrendousRead MoreMust Be O beyed ( P. 2801256 Words   |  6 Pagesplace under the dictatorship of Stalin? He was charismatic, promised the people that he could propel them forward to greatness, and exterminated anyone who stood in his way. Could it be possible that such a relationship between leadership, conformity, obedience, and social power could exist in a culture outside of the one that Stalin was a dictator of and would the people support it? The short answer is, yes. Even within the United States similar patterns happen among its leaders. As a reminderRead MoreHow Far Would Someone Go For Obey An Authority Figure?856 Words   |  4 PagesHow far would someone go to obey an authority figure? On too many occasions in our history, people have gone to great lengths to simply obey someone who shows some sort of power over us. A specific example in world history was the millions of people that were killed by the Nazis in Germany. The real question is, what made people obey Hitler? Germany was in a bad state after the depression and for some, Hitler provided stability. Many just wanted someone to give them direction. What is really scary