Obedience
Obedience - Related Videos
01:08
Obedience
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2020
According to obedience research, we may harm others under the forceful pressures of an authority figure (Milgram, 1974). How about if the inappropriate orders were delivered with less force? The increasing interdependence between nurses and physicians compelled Hofling and his colleagues to explore nurses’ reactions to a potentially harmful medical request made by the perceived authority figure, the doctor (Hofling, Brotzman, Dalrymple, Graves, & Pierce, 1966). In this situation, obedience...
02:20
Milgram's Obedience to Authority
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2020
Obedience to authority is classically demonstrated in a more famous series of social psychology experiments performed by Stanley Milgram. He was a social psychology professor at Yale who was influenced by the trial of Adolf Eichmann, a Nazi war criminal. Eichmann’s defense for the atrocities he committed was that he was “just following orders.” Milgram’s Experiments Milgram (1963) wanted to test the validity of this defense, so he designed an experiment and initially recruited 40 men for his...
FAQs
People may follow directives more readily when they view the authority as legitimate and accept the responsibility assigned to them. These judgments can shape how a person interprets the situation and whether compliance seems appropriate. Examining both factors helps psychology explain why the same demand may produce different responses in different social or institutional settings.
Physical proximity is a situational factor that can change how people respond to authority. When the authority figure is closer, the directive may become more immediate within the interaction; greater distance may alter that social influence. Comparing these conditions allows researchers to identify how features of the setting, rather than personal characteristics alone, affect compliance.
Gradual escalation can lead a person from accepting smaller demands to complying with more substantial ones. Each step may make the next directive appear connected to what has already been accepted, while the authority's legitimacy and the person's accepted responsibility continue to shape the interaction. This mechanism helps explain how compliance can develop over time rather than occur all at once.
The presence of dissenting peers can influence whether a person complies with an authority's directive. Their disagreement introduces an alternative response within the social situation, making it possible to examine how group support or opposition affects obedience. Psychology uses this comparison to distinguish the influence of authority from the influence of surrounding peers.
Psychological research on obedience examines compliance under different situational conditions. Researchers can compare responses when physical proximity, institutional setting, or the presence of dissenting peers changes. These comparisons clarify which features of an interaction affect behavior and help connect individual responses with broader questions about authority, coordinated action, and harmful conduct.
Findings about obedience can inform leadership, education, healthcare, workplaces, families, institutions, and organizational decision-making. In these settings, understanding legitimacy, responsibility, escalation, and peer influence can help explain coordinated collective action as well as harmful behavior. The topic therefore supports closer attention to how directives are communicated, accepted, and evaluated.