Obedience, By Stanley Milgram Tore - 1653 Words

I. Overview Out of all the topics we have gone over the course of this class, obedience fascinates me the most. It is perplexing, thought provoking, and morally confusing. Obedience is paramount to the structure of our society yet stories of destructive obedience haunt us. From the atrocities of the Holocaust to the massacres in Vietnam we glimpse at the horrors humans are capable of. All the while, perpetrators vindicate their actions with relative ease. The justification for every genocide, mass murder, and ethnic cleansing; I was merely ordered.† Us average civilians will likely take solace in the belief we would never commit such crimes. However, in 1964, Stanley Milgram tore down that faà §ade with his landmark paper The Perils of Obedience. Milgram showed that a majority of average people will do horrific things if commanded by an authoritative figure. But is obedience—to do as a hierarchal authority dictates—that powerful? To further explore this topic, three studies will be presented with differing types of analysis on obedience. War and Peacemaking, The fusion of two neighboring captive monkey colonies by Detlev W. Ploog elucidates some of the biological effects (i.e. evolution) of obedience. Children s obedience to adult requests: Interactive effects of anxiety arousal and apparent punitiveness of the adult by Carlsmith, J.; Lepper, Mark; Landauer, T. K. showcases the developmental determinates of obedience in children. And finally, Milgram’s famous studyShow MoreRelatedDeveloping Management Skills404131 Words   |  1617 PagesTodd Dewett, Wright State University Andrew J. Dubrin, Rochester Institute of Technology Steven Edelson, Temple University Norma Givens, Fort Valley State University Barbara A. Gorski, St. Thomas University David Hampton, San Diego State University Stanley Harris, Auburn University Richard E. Hunt, Rockhurst College Daniel F. Jennings, Baylor University Avis L. Johnson, University of Akron xx PREFACE Jay T. Knippen, University of South Florida Roland Kushner, Lafayette College Roy J. Lewicki, Ohio