The Milgram Experiment: How Social Influence Of Obedience

The Milgram experiment began in July 1961 carried out by Stanley Milgram. His decision to conduct this experiment was “he was concerned that the holocaust would happen again in American, that as a Jew his family would be put in a concentration camp. His question was “would you kill if a person in an authority figure told you to do so, someone like Hitler?” (Stanley Milgram: Obedience to Authority Video 01:00-01:16).

By using 40 males in different age groups from New Haven area. Milgram was interested in how far people would go to follow an instruction if it involved hurting another person. Each volunteer will go through variety of tests but each time they make a mistake, they will get shock and the shock will increase each time. As the result,

If all decisions were made through someone else command then our purpose in this world is nothing but being a puppet. But if torture and force was involving then the outcome will be different. Although, there are many ways that society influence our behavior and expectation to fit the social role that you adopt. Social norms provide unwritten guideline to accepted idea of behavior in social group or culture. For example, a teacher must act professionally and must carry themselves in a way that separate them from their students, in return the students will give them the respect and act in a respectfully manner. Societal norms were demonstrated during the Milgram experiment when the researcher was wearing white coat and carry a sense of authority. Having them acting the role they were in, the participants more likely to obey the command giving to them.

Being able to deviance away from societal norms and expectations not always detrimental because when we study about different type of personality and what determine intelligent. Howard Gardner’s theory of intelligences stated that different people have different talents and an IQ test is not the only way to determine your intelligence. There are two requirements to define a genius; must be original and must stand out. With that being said acting only according to social expectation

As trust created between the relationship a child will more willingly do what others ask. One of the biggest problem we encounter is bullying in school and on social media. We often ask why didn’t their peers say or protect the victim it is because they found their actions to be acceptable and if they were to defend the victim they would likely to lose the favor of others. What about adult? How do society impact decision making and thinking patterns? An adult with the mindset of “I’m no longer a child, and I can do whatever I want” can easy be influence by bad decision. For example, driving under the influence of alcohol because someone in the group told them nothing is going to happen. As for older adult, the only influence that can change their making and thinking pattern is through close relatives and family members. Study shown that older adults have less influence than other age groups. They do not get influence by peers or social media because they do not care enough to follow what is going on and what the new trend