While obedience is essential for maintaining order and efficiency, it’s crucial to recognize the ethical imperative to challenge unjust authority. These studies, while ethically controversial, underscore the profound impact of situational context and authority on human behavior, insights with continuing relevance in the digital age. The origins of obedience psychology can be traced to the mid-20th century, driven by investigations into the atrocities committed during wartime and the desire to understand how individuals could participate in such acts.

• Culture and social norms shape perspectives of authority, obedience and interact with individual decision making.
• For example, when the setting of the experiment was moved to an off-campus office building, the percentage of participants who delivered the highest shock dropped to 48%.
• This phenomenon, known as deindividuation, can lead people to act in ways they normally wouldn’t when alone.
• In normative social influence, people conform to the group norm to fit in, to feel good, and to be accepted by the group.
• Because the participants had become so involved in their roles, the guards utilized authoritarian techniques to gain the obedience of the prisoners.
• She has also successfully taught a number of Level 3 subjects, including criminology, health & social care, and citizenship.

When people obey authority without question, they may abdicate personal responsibility for their actions. Authority psychology teaches us that people are more likely to obey when they perceive the authority as legitimate. The authority bias, for instance, predisposes us to trust and obey authority figures, even when we have reasons to be skeptical. Situational factors and social pressure are also powerful forces in shaping obedience.

Landmark Studies in Obedience to Authority: Peering into the Abyss

The participants did not know that the learners were confederates and that the confederates did not receive shocks. An example of informational social influence may be what to do in an emergency. In Asch’s studies, the participants complied by giving the wrong answers, but privately did not accept that the obviously wrong answers were correct. Table 12.2 summarizes the types of social influence you have learned about in this chapter. When in group settings, we are often influenced by the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of people around us. For example, when the setting of the experiment was moved to an off-campus office building, the percentage of participants who delivered the highest shock dropped to 48%.

• When “following orders” or “just doing my job,” people can violate ethical principles, break laws or harm other people.
• Additionally, the presence of a second experimenter who disagreed with the first one further diminished obedience rates.
• The roots of obedience research run deep, stretching back to the aftermath of World War II.
• This less prestigious setting weakened the authority figure’s legitimacy, making participants less willing to comply with harmful orders.
• These findings highlight the importance of critical thinking, ethical awareness, and robust oversight mechanisms within technology companies to mitigate potential abuses of power and promote responsible innovation.

Conversely, when they remove their lab coats, obedience rates drop, indicating that the visual cues of authority play a crucial role in participants’ decisions. For instance, if one experimenter insists on continuing the experiment while another suggests stopping, participants are less likely to follow orders, reflecting a reduction in perceived authority. Understanding these factors is crucial in exploring the dynamics of authority and compliance in social psychology. While Milgram’s findings highlight the power of authority in shaping behavior, it is essential to recognize that obedience is not absolute. Obedience is a behavioral change in response to authority figures, often observed in uncertain situations. When the Milgram experimenters were interviewing potential volunteers, the participant selection process itself revealed several factors that affected obedience, outside of the actual experiment.

Social Loafing

These landmark studies paint a complex picture of human behavior. This study highlighted how professional hierarchies and the perception of authority can override individual judgment and established rules. The Stanford Prison Experiment, conducted by Philip Zimbardo in 1971, took the exploration of obedience and authority to new, disturbing heights.

Even long after slavery ended in the United States, the Black codes required black people to obey and submit to whites, on pain of lynching. Many traditional cultures regard obedience as a virtue; historically, societies have expected children to obey their elders (compare patriarchy or matriarchy), slaves their owners, serfs their lords in feudal society, lords their king, and everyone God. In 1966, psychiatrist Charles K. Hofling published the results of a field experiment on obedience in the nurse–physician relationship in its natural hospital setting. These neuroscience studies highlight how obeying orders alters our natural aversion to hurting others.

Obedience Psychology: Exploring the Science of Human Compliance

Other research has examined the influence of social norms and group dynamics on obedience (Mullen, Atkins, Champion, Edwards, & Hardy, 1985; Nemeth, 1986). These studies have contributed significantly to our understanding of the psychological mechanisms underlying obedience to power structures. Obedience is the act of following the commands or orders of an authority figure, even if it goes against one’s own moral judgment or beliefs.

Behavior Feedback Effect: Psychology Definition, History & Examples

Some people are naturally more inclined to question authority, while others tend to defer to perceived experts or leaders. The psychological mechanisms behind obedience are as complex as a Rubik’s Cube – and just as frustrating to figure out sometimes. It’s a classic case of “with great power comes great responsibility” – a lesson the field of psychology had to learn the hard way. These studies paint a sobering picture of human obedience. These experiments didn’t just ruffle a few feathers; they blew the roof off our understanding of human behavior.

The process by which individuals change their thoughts, feelings, or behaviors as a result of real or imagined pressure from others. Obedience to authority refers to the act of following orders or directives from someone perceived to have power or authority over oneself. These line segments illustrate the judgment task in Asch’s conformity study. Doliński et al. (2017) performed a replication of Burger’s work in Poland and controlled for the gender of both participants and learners, and once again, results that were consistent with Milgram’s original work were observed. Yet, when the researcher told the participant-teachers to continue the shock, 65% of the participants continued the shock to the maximum voltage and to the point that the learner became unresponsive (Figure 12.20). In this section, we discuss additional ways in which people influence others.

It represents the legitimate power that one individual or group holds over another, often conditioning the latter to follow directives without resistance. Authority is a pivotal concept that underpins obedience. It involves performing a behavior or changing one’s behavior in response to a direct request or suggestion from someone else. Compliance, on the other hand, is the act of acquiescing to a request or demand, typically from a peer or someone without overt authority. Conformity refers to the process of adjusting one’s behavior or thinking to align with perceived group norms. These studies have expanded our knowledge and provided a framework for ongoing research in the field.

Authority relationships between obedience and disobedience. The power and pathology of imprisonment. In the grand experiment of human society, we’re all both subjects and scientists. Consider the source of the authority, the potential consequences of your actions, and your own ethical standards. It’s about creating societies where people can follow constructive rules while maintaining the capacity for moral reasoning and ethical resistance.

Critical thinking and education play crucial roles in fostering resistance to blind obedience. It’s like a pebble starting an avalanche of disobedience. While the tendency to obey is strong, humans are not mere automatons. It’s a paradoxical situation where the presence of more people can actually lead to less assistance being offered. Each person assumes someone else will step up, resulting in collective inaction.

Humans have been shown to be obedient in the presence of perceived legitimate authority figures, as shown by the Milgram experiment in the 1960s, which was carried out by Stanley Milgram to find out how the Nazis managed to get ordinary people to take part in the mass murders of the Holocaust. Research suggests that Milgram was trying to figure out how much a person in authority with power could produce obedience even when it was harmful to others. In psychology, studies have examined how people may unquestioningly accept what people in power and authority demand rather than critically considering an alternative action. After examining experimental archives, researchers found that participants in the famous study were often coerced into delivering shocks, which has significant implications for the study’s final results.

It’s a lofty aim, but one that’s essential for the health of our democracies and the well-being of individuals. Neuroscientists are delving into the brain mechanisms underlying obedience and resistance. In an era of global challenges, from climate change to political polarization, understanding the dynamics of obedience and resistance is crucial. These frameworks encourage individuals to consider multiple perspectives, weigh potential consequences, and align actions with core values. When orders conflict with deeply held beliefs or moral obedience psychology definition principles, individuals are more likely to resist.

In his now famous deception study, Milgram found that 65% of research participants were willing to administer, what they believed were, 330-volt electric shocks to a fellow research participant despite hearing cries and protests. Psychologists who study obedience are interested in how people react when given an order or command from someone perceived to be in a position of authority. For instance, recent studies have explored the role of individual differences, such as personality traits and moral values, in shaping obedience behavior (Blass, 1999; Haslam & Reicher, 2012). References in the study of obedience encompass seminal works such as Stanley Milgram’s experiments on obedience to authority (Milgram, 1963) and Philip Zimbardo’s Stanford prison experiment (Zimbardo, 1971). Authority, on the other hand, is the foundation of obedience, as it represents the power that influences individuals to follow instructions without questioning or resisting. Analyzing these terms sheds light on the multifaceted nature of social influence and behavior.