Jun 07, 2010 conformity, obedience, and authority are all big topics in my sociology 101 courses. People define the behavior thats expected of them as routine. Obedience definition willingness to obey the commands of a legitimate authority extreme obedience can lead to genocide. For example, in experiment 2, where participants received telephonic instructions from the experimenter, compliance decreased to 21 percent.
It is assumed that without the order the person would not have acted in that way. It differs from compliance which involves changing your behavior at the request of another person and conformity which involves altering your behavior in order to go along with the rest of the group. Milgram told his forty male volunteer research subjects that they were participating in a. There god, with moses as mediator, provided the people with general and specific stipulations for conforming to. Examples of obedience to authority in everyday life. Youll observe milgrams electric shock experiment and what it. Authoritarian definition of authoritarian by the free. Obediencea form of social influence that involves performing an action under. Obedience definition and meaning collins english dictionary. The two phenomena are connected oft en conformism is a mental direction more easily inclined towards obedience and both imply the themes of independence and. The general concept of obedience both in the old and new testament relates to hearing or hearkening to a higher authority.
Students are stunned to learn that people were willing to electrocute another person to death simply because a man in a white lab coat told them to. One problem is that the usual definition of obedience doesnt explain what is meant. One that is invested with this power, especially a. So its no surprise that i have students read about stanley milgrams electrocution experiments. Jun 30, 2015 the authorityobedience managers focus on concern for the task makes them have lower focus on people and therefore have a hard time establishing trust with people. Milgrams work on obedience and authority was groundbreaking, and his research left a lasting legacy in the field of psychology regarding why people follow orders.
We may place too much emphasis on that goal and, consciously or subconsciously, subordinate the goal of acting ethically. The results indicate that participants see both obedience and disobedience as related to an authority. Compliance with a command, prohibition or known law and rule of duty prescribed. During the 1960s, yale university psychologist stanley milgram conducted a series of obedience experiments that led to some surprising results. Most students have probably learned about the milgram experiment where participants were told to administer shocks to people on the other side of a partition. Obedience to authority is the tendency people have to try to please those in charge. Instead, obedience involves altering your behavior because a figure of. Obedience definition, the state or quality of being obedient. The milgram experiments on obedience to authority figures was a series of social psychology experiments conducted by yale university psychologist stanley milgram. Obedience was a main concern during the time of the encampment of the people of israel at the base of mount sinai, to which god directed moses to lead them after their deliverance from the egyptians. It differs from compliance which involves changing your behavior at the request of another person and conformity which involves altering your. Obedience definition is an act or instance of obeying. It is the recognition of the authority of god vicariously exercised through a human agent that confers upon the act of obedience its special merit. Obedience is instead that modification that is manifested carrying out the instructions issued by figures given authority.
You can complete the definition of obedience to authority given by the english definition dictionary with other english dictionaries. In the sociological study entitled obedience to authority by stanley milgram, we clearly view how strong of an effect authority has on the perception of moral decency and internal struggle. Obedience synonyms, obedience antonyms merriamwebster. The concept of obedience in psychology verywell mind. It is used predominantly in the new testament, where the word exousia functions in at least four ways first, authority is the freedom to decide or a right to act without hindrance. Although in the first condition, the remote condition, 65% were fully obedient, only 30% continued giving the whole range of shocks in the last one, the touchproximity condition. Authority definition of authority by the free dictionary. Obedience, power, and leadership principles of social. Obedience to authority describes how we may, consciously or.
It is either immediately divine or, if vested proximately in men, compulsive behavior, repetition compulsion is an inherent, primordial tendency in the unconscious that impels the individual to repeat certain actions, in. While the experimental methods used by milgram during that era would today raise serious ethical concerns, his results are important and germane because they found that people will obey authority even when it violates their core values and leads them to harm others. May 10, 2020 obedience is a form of social influence that involves performing an action under the orders of an authority figure. Obedience, in human behavior, is a form of social influence in which a person yields to explicit. Parents are authority figures to their children, bosses are authority figures to their employees, and teachers are authority figures to their students. Characterized by or favoring absolute obedience to authority, as against individual freedom. Obedience is the tendency to comply with the commands of those in authority. Obedience is as basic an element in the structure of social life as one can point to. Examples of obedience to authority in everyday life stanley. Evolving the authorityobedience management philosophy. There god, with moses as mediator, provided the people with general and specific stipulations for conforming to his will.
Obedience to authority isbn 9780061765216 is milgrams own account of the experiment, written for a mass audience obedience is a blackandwhite film of the experiment, shot by milgram himself. In schools, many teachers find that their absence from the classroom instantly causes a eruption of noise caused by the pupils. The milgram experiment 1961 and the stanford prison experiment 1971 illuminated obedience to authority, and abu ghraib should have further informed how obedience can turn dangerous, but how susceptible people are to imperatives to harm other living beings for a perceived greater good was mostly absent from rhetoric about post911 u. Define leadership and explain how effective leaders are determined by the person, the situation, and the. Learn exactly what happened in this chapter, scene, or section of social psychology and what it means. Psychologists study obedience to explain how social factors influence human behavior. In a world where measuring and impacting employee engagement has become.
Psychological evidence indicates that people tend to respect and follow. All authority to which we bow has its source in him and cannot be validly used against him. Some system of authority is a requirement of all communal living, and it is only the man dwelling in isolation who is not forced to respond, through defiance or submission, to the commands of others. Read aloud, study, and discuss what obedience means and how it applies to life. The experiment showed that obedience to authority was the norm, not the exception. Search obedience to authority and thousands of other words in english definition and synonym dictionary from reverso. Can you think of other historical examples in which obedience to authority may have played a. Obedience, in human behavior, is a form of social influence in which a person yields to explicit instructions or orders from an authority figure. In this post i will give a relevant example for each. Obedience is behavior change produced by the commands of authority. During a period of several years in the 1960s, stanley milgram conducted a series of experiments on obedience to authority. There are five main factors that may contribute to the increasing and decreasing levels of ones obedience.
Obedience to authority is the tendency people have to try to please those in. Millions of people were killed in nazi germany in concentration camps but hitler couldnt have killed them all, nor could a. The power to enforce laws, exact obedience, command, determine, or judge. When we think about obedience to authority, we often think of the famous study by yale university psychologist stanley milgram. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. Psychological evidence indicates that people tend to respect and follow those whom they perceive to have legitimate authority. One of the greek terms for obedience in the bible conveys the idea of positioning oneself under someone by submitting to their authority and command. Wikipedia, lexilogos, oxford, cambridge, chambers harrap, wordreference, collins lexibase dictionaries, merriam webster. Stanley milgram 1933 1984 was a social psychologist who is most wellknown for conducting a series of controversial experiments on obedience to authority figures, called the milgram experiment. This can lead to trouble if it causes people to fail to exercise their own independent ethical judgment. Websters dictionary 1828 websters dictionary 1828 obedience. The study found that a big majority of the participants were willing to obey an authority figure even when they were being instructed to do.
A summary of obedience and authority in s social psychology. Which of the following is true of milgrams 1963, 1965, 1974 research on obedience to authority. This style of manager at least needs to look around and work on key relationships with those around them. Obedience was mostly perceived as an ability to be responsive to laws, social norms, or. Obedience occurs when you are told to do something authority, whereas conformity happens through social pressure the norms of the majority obedience involves a hierarchy of power status. It is distributed by alexander street press 81 the tenth level was a fictionalized 1975 cbs television drama about the experiment, featuring william shatner and ossie davis.
Recently, researcher and analyst stephen gibson questioned whether that definition was sufficient. The milgram obedience experiment and stanford prison experiment are two studies that strongly support the idea that influences such as perceived authority, environment, and assigned social roles can often easily overpower a noble sense of self and lead to the commission of immoral acts. Willingness to obey the commands of a legitimate authority extreme obedience can lead to genocide the germansarediffernet hypothesis tries to explain the systematic destruction of the jews by the third reich it wasnt related to the germans, it was related to the authority. Obedience is when an individual acts according to orders, usually from an authority figure. Perfect for acing essays, tests, and quizzes, as well as for writing lesson plans. Despite hearing the pleas and cries of anguish from the person on the other side who, of course, was. For example the basic obedience rate in the original experiment was 65%, but significantly declined to 20. In the 1960s stanley milgram conducted an experiment in which 65% of the participants obeyed commands requiring them to administer what they believed were dangerously strong electric.
The perceived authority of professor milgram rested on his authority as a professor at an elite institution, the fact that it was his experiment and the status of science. In other words, someone gives you a direct order or command, and you comply with that order. Obedience is generally distinguished from compliance, which is behavior influenced by peers, and from conformity, which is behavior intended to match that of the majority. Obedience meaning in the cambridge english dictionary. However, about fifty years before the milgram experiment, sociologist max weber offered a similar observation in his attempt to understand why people obey authority. Information and translations of obedience in the most comprehensive dictionary definitions resource on the web. The authorityobedience managers focus on concern for the task makes them have lower focus on people and therefore have a hard time establishing trust with people. It showed that people have a strong tendency to comply with authority figures. In the 1960s, the social psychologist stanley milgram did a famous research study called the obedience study.
Even so, milgrams book is by no means to be ignored or overlooked. Therefore, the person giving the order has a higher status than the person receiving the order. The concept of authority seldom appears in the old testament. Obedience occurs when you are told to do something authority, whereas conformity happens through social pressure the norms of the majority. These results offer a compelling and disturbing look at the power of authority and obedience. Regarding obedience, stanley milgram said that obedience is as basic an element in the structure of social life as one can point to. Obedience to authority definition of obedience to authority. Another greek word for obey in the new testament means to trust. Obedience definition of obedience by merriamwebster. Obedience is compliance with commands given by an authority figure.
The amount of obedience gradually declined as teacherlearner distance was reduced. Legitimate authority can clearly be seen in milgrams study in terms of the presence of the authority figure. What types of social situations make it more likely that well obey authority. We all need to monitor ourselves to ensure that we are not unduly suspending our own independent ethical judgment in order to please our superiors. Conformity, obedience, and authority are all big topics in my sociology 101 courses.
Obedience to authority describes our tendency to please authority figures. Obedience to authority is a basic tenant of any human social organization. For example, when toshiba needed to inflate its earnings, implicit pressure from. Stanley milgram did a famous psychological study on obedience to authority figures in which most participants were willing to obey an authority figure even when they were being instructed to do. Pdf the obediencedisobedience dynamic and the role of. To constitute obedience the act or forbearance to act must be in submission to authority. Obedience, the foundation of obedience is authority. Obedience is a form of social influence where an individual acts in response to a direct order from another individual, who is usually an authority figure. They measured the willingness of study participants, men from a diverse range of occupations with varying levels of education, to obey an authority figure who instructed them to perform acts conflicting with their personal conscience.