Obedience

Why do we obey?

Why do we obey orders that we know are immoral or wrong?

• Germans who helped kill Jews in Europe.

• Serbs who killed Muslims in Bosnia

• Were all of these people lacking morals or abnormal from the rest of us?

Obedience• Obedience

– compliance of person is due to perceived authority of asker

– request is perceived as a command

• Milgram interested in unquestioning obedience to orders

1933-1984

Stanley Milgram’s Studies

Basic study procedure– teacher and learner

(learner always confederate)

– watch learner being strapped into chair

– learner expresses concern over his “heart condition”

Stanley Milgram’s Studies: Procedure Continued

• Teacher (S) goes to another room with experimenter• Shock generator panel – 15 to 450 volts, labels

“slight shock” to “XXX”• Teacher (S) asked by Experimenter (E) to give

higher shocks for every mistake Learner (A) makes

Stanley Milgram’s Studies• Learner protests more and

more as shock increases• Experimenter continues

to request obedience even if teacher balks saying,

• “The Experiment Requires that you continue.”

• “You have no other choice, you must continue.”

120

150

300

330

“Ugh! Hey this really hurts.”

“Ugh! Experimenter! That’s all. Get me out of here. I told you I had heart trouble. My heart’s starting to bother me now.”

(agonized scream) “I absolutelyrefuse to answer any more.Get me out of here. You can’t hold me here. Get me out.”

(intense & prolonged agonized scream) “Let me out of here. Let me out of here. My heart’s bothering me. Let me out, I tell you…”

How many people would go to the highest shock level?• Two-Thirds (26 out of 40) of the

subjects went to the end, even those that protested

• Those that did stop, not one stopped before the 300-volt level.

Milgram’s Obedience to Authority

(Data from Milgram, 1974)

Obedience to Authority

• Play “Obedience: The Milgram Study” (4:04) Segment #34 from Psychology: The Human Experience.

• Or Click HERE to view actual video from his original experiment. (5 minutes)

Explanations for Milgram’s Results

• Abnormal group of subjects?– Numerous replications with variety of groups

shows no support– Milgram’s study has been repeated

many times in the United States and other countries with identical results

• People in general are sadistic?– videotapes of Milgram’s subjects show extreme

distress

Explanations for Milgram’s Results

• Socialization – We learn from childhood to obey authority figures. The teacher in the study was seen as an authority figure.

• Foot in the Door Effect – Once someone says yes to a minor request they will keep saying yes to slowly escalating requests.

• Confusion About Attitudes – As the situation got more disturbing the person is more likely to become confused about their own beliefs.

• Buffers - The physical and psychological separation from the learner made it easier to follow orders

Other Factors that Contributed to Obedience

• The situation, or context, in which the obedience occurred (Authority of Yale and value of science)

• New situation and no model of how to behave

• Experimenter self-assurance and acceptance of responsibility – Experimenter said they were responsible for the learner.

Follow-Up Studies to Milgram

Conditions that Decrease the Likelihood of Destructive

Obedience • Willingness to obey diminishes sharply when the buffers

that separate the teacher from the learner are lessened or removed.

• Obedience decreased when the experimenter left the room and spoke to the subject over the telephone rather than in person.

• When teachers were allowed to act as their own authority and freely choose the shock level, 95 percent did not venture beyond 150 volts—the first point at which the learner protested

• People were more likely to defy an authority when they saw others do so

Were Milgram’s Obedience Experiments Ethical?

• Attacked for the emotional stress, tension, and loss of dignity experienced by the subjects

• Milgram suggested that what was disturbing to people were not so much his methods but his results

• Follow-ups of Milgram’s subjects indicate that a large majority were glad to have taken part in the experiment and had no signs of harm or traumatic reaction

Does this Apply to Today?

Asch, Milgram, and the Real World

• Being at odds with the majority or with authority figures is very uncomfortable for most people—

• Enough so that our judgment and perceptions can be distorted and we may act in ways that violate our conscience

• Each of us does have the capacity to resist group or authority pressure but…

Will we do so?

Abu Ghraib Prison:“I was just following orders.”