Stanley Milgram's Experiments Paper

The experiments that have been are under study this week have proven that under certain circumstances ordinary or "good" people are able to change their behavior or commit extremely heinous acts. In Stanley Milgram’s experiments he found that obedience was higher when an individual is receiving orders from a person who is close and /or when this person is perceived as an authority figure supported by a prestigious organization. However, Milgram noticed that when experiments were conducted outside the Yale campus, obedience diminished. It has further been found that high levels of obedience also require that the victim be depersonalized or at a distance. Moreover, high levels of obedience are most likely to occur when there are no other figures that challenge the wrongdoings, (Cordon, 2005; Alic, 2001). This was evident both in Milgram’s and Zimbardo’s experiments.

Conformity tends to occur in response to pressure felt within a group. It is

In Society, people have a need for acceptance. Social needs are usually met among particular groups, this will make us prone to conform and or obey to norms or behaviors. Both conformity and obedience are necessary for the well-being of the society in which we live. In some instances obedience and conformity can become dangerous; especially under the requests of individual’s with selfish interests or ideas such as Adolfo Hitler and religious leaders as Jim Jones. Additionally, peer pressure can coerce individuals to make them bend their moral values, laws, or distort their beliefs, (Baumeister & Bushman,