Amanda Wilks – In 1961, Stanley Milgram, a Yale psychologist began a series of experiments to analyze obedience in relation to an authority figure. The experiment involved three people: the Experimenter, who played the role of the authority figure, the Teacher, who was a volunteer, and was instructed to obey the indications they were given by the authority figure, and lastly, the Learner, a person who played the part of another volunteer, but was in fact an actor placed in the experiment by the researchers.
The Experimenter instructed the Teacher to read out a series of word pairings to the Learner, who had to memorize them. If they answered incorrectly, the Teacher was to administer an electric shock to the Learner. The volunteers were given a sample shock, and they were told the intensity would gradually increase every time the Learner made a mistake, up to a maximum of 450 volts.
The Learners were not in fact being shocked. However, the Teachers had no way of knowing that, since they could not see the Learners. Instead, the actors showed increasing levels of discomfort, as the voltage “increased,” to the point where, in the end they were screaming in agony.
In the first set of experiments, over half of the participants administered this final voltage.
The first theory to emerge from these experiments was the theory of conformity. According to these theory, individuals who feel they do not have the necessary abilities or knowledge to make decisions, especially in a crisis situation, leaves the decision making process up to the hierarchy of the group, namely his perceived superiors.
The second theory is called the agentic theory. It pairs with the first, in that the person who displays obedient behavior comes to perceive themselves as an instrument of the authority figure. As such, they no longer feel they carry any responsibility for the acts they perpetrate. According to Milgram, once this happens, the subject will display all the other significant characteristics associated with obedient behavior.
Milgram’s experiments dealt with the relation between authority figures and followers in a very straightforward manner. The chilling implication of these experiments is that individuals may find themselves displaying this obedient behavior in situations which are more insidious. There are some studies that attempt to uncover the psychology of control on a wider scale, the kind of control we may be exposed to on a daily basis.
The Third Wave Movement
This social experiment, performed by high school history teacher Ron Jones was an attempt to teach his students how ordinary German people fell prey to the influence of one the worst dictators in history, Adolf Hitler. In order to make them understand the experience the Germans underwent during that period, in April 1967, Jones announced that he will be starting a new movement called The Third Wave. He informed his students this goal of this movement was to eliminate democracy. His argument in favor of the change was that democracy’s focus on individuality was harmful to society. The motto of The Third Wave was “Strength through discipline, strength through community, strength through action, strength through pride”.
During the first day, Jones established himself as an authoritarian figure, and enforced strict regulations, and extensive drilling. The experiment was supposed to end that day. During the following days however, more students from around the school started joining the movement of their free will; they were issued cards that attested their membership, and were given tasks, such as creating a banner for The Third Wave. They were also instructed to keep any students who were not members out of the class.
As the experiment started getting out of hand, with students displaying increased levels of discipline and loyalty towards the project, Jones decided to end it. On the fifth day, the students were assembled and informed it had all been just an experiment.
Following Milgram’s experiment, it is perhaps not very surprising that a group of high school students would display such obedience in front of an authority figure, such as a teacher. What’s more striking is the fact that many of them did so spontaneously, and against the ultimate wishes of the authority figure. From Jones’ account, the experiment was not scheduled to last as long as it did.
The Stanford Prison Experiment
The experiment was performed at Stanford University in August 1971, under the supervision of Philip Zimbardo. The experiment had been funded by the U.S. Office of Naval Research.
The experiment involved only middle-class volunteers who did not have a criminal background or a history of violent behavior. There were 24 subject in total: 12 were assigned the role of guards, and 12 were prisoners. The guards were instructed not to harm prisoners, or withhold food. Otherwise, they were to instill a sense of fear, and hopelessness in the prisoners. The guards were given batons to mark their roles, and mirrored sunglasses, so they could not make eye contact with the prisoners.
During the second day, the prisoners rioted against the guards, and refused to follow orders. Some guards attacked the prisoners with fire extinguishers. The guards became increasingly violent towards the prisoners, forcing them to exercise until they were exhausted, confiscating mattresses as punishment, and forbidding them from cleaning the bucket they used as a latrine. In just a few days, some of the volunteers that were assigned the roles of guards had started to display a genuine sadistic pleasure in torturing the prisoners.
The results of the experiment showed how important the loss of individual identity was on behavior. The uniforms, as a symbol of either a guard or a prisoner, came to replace the individual’s personality. They were completely overtaken by the role they had been assigned. The experiment also showed the power of the observer, and the sense of being observed. The guards and prisoners acted differently when they knew they were being watched by the researchers. Following the abuse perpetrated by the guards, the prisoners completely gave up, having lost all sense of human dignity.
These monstrous experiments not only show how is it easy to succumb to stressful situations, under the influence of an authority figure, but how willing some are to do so. While these experiments were performed in a controlled environment, it is terrifying to think of the effects of such conditions outside the boundaries of a scientific experiment.
Source
Amanda Wilks is a Boston University graduate and a part-time writer. She has a great interest in everything related to sustainability, lifestyle, and careers. She loves helping people find smart ways to positive, healthy living.
Article originally published on Shift Frequency and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
[widget id=”text 44″]