Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsObedience vs. ConformityMilgram’s ExperimentsZimbardo’s Prison ExperimentFactors That Impact ObedienceWhy It Is Important
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
Obedience vs. Conformity
Milgram’s Experiments
Zimbardo’s Prison Experiment
Factors That Impact Obedience
Why It Is Important
Close
To understand obedience, it is important to also understand how it differs fromcomplianceandconformity. Compliance involves changing your behavior at the request of another person, while conformity consists in altering your behavior to go along with the rest of the group.
Obedience involves altering your behavior because an authority figure has told you to do so.
Obedience vs. Conformity: How They Differ
Obedience is an essential concept in psychology. The question of why people obey others, its impact on society, and the factors that impact obedience are essential in understanding social behavior and social influence. However, obedience must be distinguished from other types of social influence, including conformity.
Obedience differs from conformity in three key ways:
RecapWhere obedience relies on direct orders, the perceived status and power of the person giving those orders, conformity is more about fitting in with the group. People obey because they are commanded to, but conform because they want to gain approval from their peers.
Recap
Where obedience relies on direct orders, the perceived status and power of the person giving those orders, conformity is more about fitting in with the group. People obey because they are commanded to, but conform because they want to gain approval from their peers.
Milgram’s Obedience Experiments
The trial of Adolf Eichmann, who had planned and managed the mass deportation of Jews during World War II, helped spark Milgram’s interest in obedience.
Throughout the trial, Eichmann suggested that he was simply following orders. He claimed that he felt no guilt for his role in the mass murders because he had only been doing what his superiors requested and he had played no role in the decision to exterminate the captives.
Milgram’s Question
Milgram had set out to explore the question, “Are Germans different?” In other words, he wondered if perhaps there were some factors at work that had made German citizens obey orders more than others might. He soon discovered, however, that many people are surprisingly obedient to authority.
Milgram’s Results
Milgram’s studiesinvolved placing participants in a room and directing them to deliver electrical shocks to a “learner” located in another room. Unbeknownst to the participant, the person supposedly receiving the shocks was actually in on the experiment and was merely acting out responses to imaginary shocks.
Surprisingly, Milgram found that 65% of participants were willing to deliver the maximum level of shocks on the experimenter’s orders.
Recent Criticisms Cast Doubt on Milgram’s Findings
Milgram’s experiments have long been criticized as unethical, but more recent findings have further complicated the legacy of his research. 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.
While 65% of the participants followed orders, it is essential to note that the statistics only apply to one study variation. In other trials, fewer people were willing to go through with the shocks, and in some cases, every participant refused to follow orders.
Modern Replications
RecapWhile Milgram’s study had problems, subsequent research has suggested that people are surprisingly willing to obey orders.
While Milgram’s study had problems, subsequent research has suggested that people are surprisingly willing to obey orders.
Milgram’s controversial experiments generated a great deal of interest in the psychology of obedience. During the early 1970s, social psychologist PhilipZimbardo staged an explorationinto the study of prisoners and prison life.
Zimbardo’s Experiment
He set up a mock prison in the basement of the Stanford University psychology department and assigned his participants to play the roles of either prisoners or guards, with Zimbardo himself acting as the prison warden.
According to the researchers, the study had to be discontinued after a mere six days even though it was initially slated to last two weeks. Why did the researchers end the experiment so early? Because the participants had become so involved in their roles, the guards utilized authoritarian techniques to gain the obedience of the prisoners.
The study’s authors suggested that the guards even subjected the prisoners topsychological abuse, harassment, and physical torture.
Contemporary Criticisms
Like Milgram’s experiments, Zimbardo’s experiment has not fared well under more recent analysis. In addition to the long-noted ethical problems with the study, a more recent analysis of the study’s methods has revealed serious issues with the experiment’s design, methods, procedures, and authenticity.
Participants in the study reportedly faked their responses to leave early. Others reported amplifying their behaviors to help give the experimenters the results they were looking for. Critics suggest that the study lacks scientific merit and credibility due to these notable problems with its procedures.
Controversial and Unethical Psychology Experiments
A variety of individual and social factors can impact the likelihood that a person will obey a leader. Some factors that might play a role include:
Understanding the Psychology of Obedience
Recognizing the power of obedience can help shed light on why people sometimes follow the orders of an authority figure, even if it violates their own personal beliefs or morals. Helpingleaders understand their powerin social situations can also help them use it more effectively and responsibly.
Building this understanding may also help people better recognize abuses of power and find ways to better promote responsible, ethical behavior.
10 Sources
Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Stangor C, Jhangiani R, Tarry H.Principles of Social Psychology. Victoria: BC campus Open Textbook Project; 2014.
American Psychological Association.Obeying and resisting malevolent orders.
Perry G.Deception and illusion in Milgram’s accounts of the obedience experiments.Theory Appl Ethics. 2013;2(2):79-92.
Burger JM.Replicating Milgram: Would people still obey today?Am Psychol. 2009;64(1):1-11. doi:10.1037/a0010932
American Psychological Association.Demonstrating the Power of Social Situations via a Simulated Prison Experiment.
Blum B.The lifespan of a lie.Medium.
Le Texier T.Debunking the Stanford Prison Experiment.American Psychologist. 2019;74(7):823-839. doi:10.1037/amp0000401
Bègue L, Beauvois JL, Courbet D, Oberlé D, Lepage J, Duke AA.Personality predicts obedience in a Milgram paradigm.J Pers. 2015;83(3):299-306. doi:10.1111/jopy.12104
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