Obedience (human behavior)

Obedience is a human behavior that entails a hierarchy in which one person performs according to the explicit orders of an authority figure. Obedience differs from following directions in that obedience requires a recognized authority figure, as opposed to a social expectation or etiquette. The authority that a person follows may be real or imagined and can come from a variety of sources. Sources of authority for obedience include academic achievement, military rank or position, religious affiliation, or authority granted by the state. Obedience has been studied extensively, with three studies primarily setting the groundwork for further research.

Brief History

Obedience is required of those submitting to a leader, be it religious, state, or military. The first civilizations and religions demanded obedience from their subjects, much in the same way that militaries do in the modern era. The impact of authority toward obedience of younger and impressionable individuals was known but not explicitly studied until the middle of the twentieth century. The Milgram experiment, Stanford prison experiment, and Hofling Hospital experiment paved the way for future psychological and sociological studies in obedience.

The first of the modern obedience studies was conducted by Stanley Milgram in 1961 and published in 1963. The study examined the extent to which a person will follow orders that the person finds to be offensive. The experiment consisted of three individuals: the authority figure, an actor, and the participant. The authority figure would instruct the participant to administer an electric shock to the actor every time the actor did not provide the correct answer. The study found that people will continue to follow a course of action that they otherwise would not if an authority figure commands them to.

The Hofling Hospital experiment was carried out in 1966 and published in the same year. The experiment entailed a person calling a nurse and telling the nurse to administer an apparently lethal dose of a fictitious drug. Prior to the phone call, a bottle of the fictitious drug was planted for the nurse to be able to find and administer to a patient. The study revealed that nearly every nurse was prepared to follow the directions and would have administered the lethal dose of the drug had they not been stopped at the door to the patient’s room. The study further revealed that the strict hierarchy of a hospital setting contributed to the nurses’ behavior.

The Stanford prison experiment was conducted by Phillip Zimbardo in 1971 at Stanford University. The experiment consisted of twenty-four individuals, twelve serving as guards and twelve serving as prisoners. Nine individuals from each group were the primary participants in the experiment, and the remaining three in each group served as alternate members. The experiment was to measure the impact of obedience and behavior as they are separated within a prison. The experiment is significant for two reasons: first, that the experiment was cut short because of its traumatic effect on the participants, and second, that it demonstrated the level of subjugation that occurs under obedience.

Topic Today

The most significant aspects of obedience today are the application and understanding of obedience’s, role in the military and how ethical considerations are addressed when studying obedience in an academic fashion and environment. Understanding how obedience works is crucial to understanding how outcomes unfold. The defense of following orders in Nazi Germany, the My Lai Massacre in Vietnam, and the scandal at Abu Ghraib Prison are all based on the study of obedience and authority.

Following World War II, the famous Nuremberg trials demonstrated the new legal principles regarding obedience and authority. The result of these trials was that an individual was held responsible for his actions, regardless of the authority of the person giving an order. Obedience to one’s superior, or the defense of "just following orders," was not considered to be a valid defense.

The My Lai Massacre occurred in 1968 in South Vietnam and resulted in the deaths of more than 300 Vietnamese women. The U.S. soldiers responsible for the My Lai Massacre claimed that they were following the orders of their superiors and that they therefore were not responsible. The obedience shown toward the orders to massacre women and children demonstrates the degree of power that authority has over people.

These studies were discussed following the scandal at Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq. In 2003, the prison guards at Abu Ghraib prison were in the headlines for mistreatment of prisoners. The initial actions of the guards were similar to the actions of the guards against the inmates of the Zimbardo experiment. However, due to the obedience and authority factor within the military, the actions of the guards in Abu Ghraib surpassed the cruelty of the Zimbardo experiment, such that prisoners were raped and murdered.

While the studies provided a great deal of insight into how people react to obedience, there were significant ethical considerations that were raised over how the experiments were carried out, which continue to have an impact on psychological experiments. The primary ethical considerations that were raised were the consent of the individuals, the expectations of the individuals, and the information gained from the experiment as compared to the harm posed to the participants.

Critics of the Milgram, Hofling, and Zimbardo experiments claim that the participants did not fully consent, nor were expectations met for the participants. The individuals were unable to give full and willing consent as they did not have a true understanding of what the experiments entailed, nor of the purpose of the experiment. In response, the supporters of the experiment claim that had the individuals had full knowledge of the experiment, the experiment would be invalid as the participants would not be acting accurately and may have given a staged performance. The second major criticism of the experiments was the potential for harm to the participants. The Zimbardo experiment was ended prematurely due to its impact on the individuals within the staged prison.

Bibliography

Barker, Davi. Authoritarian Sociopathy: Toward a Renegade Psychological Experiment. New York: Free Press Publications, 2014. Print.

Carnahan, T., and S. McFarland. "Revisiting the Stanford Prison Experiment: Could Participant Self-Selection Have Led to the Cruelty?" Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 33.5 (2007): 603–14. Print.

Clemens, Michael. The Secrets of Abu Ghraib Revealed: American Soldiers on Trial. Herndon: Potomac Books, 2010. Print.

Hollander, Matthew M. "The Repertoire of Resistance: Non‐Compliance with Directives in Milgram’s ‘Obedience’ Experiments." British Journal of Social Psychology 54.3 (2015): 425–44.

Milgram, Stanley. Obedience to Authority. New York: Harper Perennial Classic, 2009.

Perry, Gina. Behind the Shock Machine: The Untold Story of the Notorious Milgram Psychology Experiments. New York: New Press, 2013.

Priemel, Kim, and Alexa Stiller, eds. Reassessing the Nuremberg Military Tribunals: Transitional Justice, Trial Narratives, and Historiography. New York: Berghahn Books, 2012. Print.

Zimbardo, Phillip. The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil. New York: Random House, 2007. Print.