Obedience And Conformity
The author explains that there are many philosophies about obedience but they don’t give much information about the behaviors of subjects in critical or complicated situation. Milgram sets up an experiment at Yale University to see the reaction of a citizen when ordered by the experimenter to hurt other person. The author
The text underscores the dangers of conformity without questioning its validity and
Americans are not naturally less likely to obey something that they no is wrong. The amount of obedience was highly underestimated. The subjects endured both emotional strain and tension, which was unexpected. 6. What do the results of this study mean in practical terms?
Since the beginning of the human existence, man has always dominated and ruled over one another be it empires, corporations, or small groups. Authority and obedience has always been a factor of who we are. This natural occurrence can be seen clearly through the psychological experiments known as The Milgram Experiment and the Stanford Prison Experiment. Both of these studies are based on how human beings react to authority figures and what their obedience is when faced with conflict.
That unconscious drive or tendency to obey was questioned by Gibson (2012) who was particularly interested in participants’
When it comes to the topic of Conformity vs Individuality the argument made by many authors is to persuade or suggest the readers to find the middle between Conformity and Individuality. While some readers are convinced that Conformity is the right path to take other are convinced that individuality is the wrong one. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of the dangers of conformity and why you must stay in the
Obedience is a form of social influence where an individual behaves in a way as a response to an order from an authority figure. Conformity is the act of matching behaviors or beliefs to a group norm. Obedience is different from conformity because obedience occurs when a person is told to do something, whereas conformity occurs through social pressure; there is a hierarchy of power involved with obedience. Stanley Milgram studied obedience shortly after World War II when Nazi soldiers defended themselves on the basis of obedience of their superiors during the Nuremburg Trials. Milgram was interested to find if these soldiers were truly just following orders, or if they were accomplices finding a defense for their actions.
I was full of agony afterward. A positive example of when I succumbed to conformity and followed the crowd would be the time when we had a community yard sale, and the director of the community asked if there were any volunteers who will be donating 50% of their sales towards the Red Cross for a cause of recent disaster relief. After agreeing by some of my neighbors, I had also agreed and felt great. The difference in succumbing to obedience and conformity is that conformity generally occurs within a group of people and changes their attitudes as well as beliefs to match to those of others within that group. Obedience, on the other hand, is the act of following the orders without even questioning as they come from a legitimate
Word count 831 References: • Milgram, S. (1963). Behavioral Study of obedience. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, Vol 67(4), 371-378. Retrieved from
"Obedience is behavior that complies with the explicit demands of the individual in authority." (King, 448) If a store manager tells you to put a shirt on before entering the store, you're more than likely going to comply due to their request due to their authority over the store. You might fear that if you do not comply, you won't be permitted inside or even police being called. That is simple obedience, but what if an authority figure asked you to inflict pain on another person?
Have you not listened to someones command ever? Have you took advice from someone and completed everthing how they mentioned it to you? If so, you have either took the action of noncomformity or comforming. Conforming and nonconformity are two different actions that a person can take. They are not similar because they are opposite.
Another part of the perils of obedience is wanting to be part of something bigger than themselves. For a lot of people the reason for them moving to Jonestown was in effort to make a change in racial equality. A good amount of the members at Peoples Temple was primarily African American. They felt as though Jones knew how they felt to be isolated from society and therefore joined him. “For a significant number of followers, Rev. Jim Jones provided guidance which they could find nowhere else in their lives.
Obedience Discussion It is noted in our textbook that “Nonbelievers must hear the gospel an average of 7.6 times before they receive it” (Fay & Shepherd, 1999, p. 11). I am not sure where or how Mr. Fay arrived at this statistic but I know I must have heard the Gospel at least that many times. I am taking into consideration that Mr. Fay is talking about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ found in 1 Cor. 15:3-4 and not just tidbits which probably means their opinions rather than God’s Truth (Word).
We have been trained to be obedient to authority. This quality is deep-rooted in us all from the manner in which we were brought up. It is natural for people to obey orders from those whom they recognized as their authority. This is the natural response to legitimate authority and can be learnt in a variety of situations. In a summary written in the article “The Perils of Obedience” (Milgram 1974), states: “The legal aspects of obedience are of enormous import, but they say very little about how most people behave in concrete situations.”
Since we are born we are been constantly shaped and formed in to who we are today. Forces that shape us include our parents or caregivers and the outside environment. Growing up, my parents were very strict and it was their way or the highway. To not get in trouble with my parents, I opted to conform by moving toward them through obedience. Now that I am older, I believe that my conformation through obedience has left me moving away from people.
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