Obedience to Authority
This week you read about several experimental and historical examples of when people were observed acting against their own will or conscience, given the right set of circumstances. There are also plenty of historical examples of those in power who took advantage of individuals’ obedience and conformity to social pressures or the pressures of authority.
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Select 1 of the social experiments that you read about this week (Zimbardo, Asch, Milgram) and identify a current event or situation that similarly illustrates obedience and conformity. Like the social experiments you studied, the event you choose should also raise questions of ethics.
Write a
- Compare and contrast the experiment you selected with the contemporary situation.
- Identify the social roles of participants and what behaviors reflect those roles.
- Examine the specific behaviors of the participants.
- Discuss the internal and external consequences of the participants’ behaviors, for example, shunning, passivity, degradation, and insolence.
- Explain how social roles in the contemporary situation resulted in the outcome.
- Describe a realistic alternative scenario that could have resulted in a different, more ethical outcome for this situation. Relate this alternative scenario to a concept in social psychology.
Include a minimum of 3 sources.
Cite any sources to support your assignment.
Format your sources according to APA guidelines.
Obedience, Conformity, and Ethics: Milgram’s Study and the COVID-19 Lockdowns
The concept of obedience to authority has long been a subject of interest in social psychology. Stanley Milgram’s (1963) obedience experiments, in which participants administered what they believed were dangerous electric shocks to strangers under the guidance of an authoritative figure, remain a seminal illustration of how ordinary individuals can act against their conscience………
Comparison of Milgram’s Experiment and Contemporary Lockdown Enforcement
Milgram’s study was designed to test the limits of obedience to authority, showing that many participants were willing to inflict harm on others simply because they were told to by an authority figure in a lab coat. Similarly, during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, citizens and government agents across various countries followed strict protocols, even when those policies resulted in significant social, psychological, and economic harm. For example, in places like Wuhan, China, and parts of India, there were documented cases of people being physically restrained or punished for violating lockdown orders (BBC News, 2020). These situations show how obedience to perceived legitimate authority can lead to the suppression of personal moral judgment.
Social Roles and Behavioral Reflection
In both the Milgram experiment and the pandemic lockdowns, clear social roles were established. In Milgram’s study, the “teacher” (participant) was instructed to administer shocks to the “learner” (confederate) by the experimenter (authority figure). The teacher’s role was to obey; the authority’s role was to instruct. Similarly, during the pandemic, police officers and health officials played the role of authority enforcers, while civilians were
