MILGRAMS OBEDIENCE TO AUTHORITY BACKGROUND INFO AND DISCUSSION

MILGRAM’S OBEDIENCE TO AUTHORITY BACKGROUND INFO AND DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

HOW DO PEOPLE RESPOND TO AUTHORITY? • Most common ways to respond to authority: – Obey but justify –Obey and blame self –Rebel

MILGRAM’S EXPERIMENT Some of the most famous studies of obedience in psychology were carried out by Stanley Milgram, a psychologist at Yale University. He conducted a series of experiments focusing on the conflict between obedience to authority and personal conscience.

OBEDIENCE • Milgram (1963) examined justifications for acts of genocide offered by those accused at the Nuremberg War Trials. Their defense often was based on "obedience" - that they were just following orders from their superiors. – Nuremberg, Germany, was chosen as a site for trials that took place in 1945 and 1946. Judges from the Allied powers—Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and the United States—presided over the hearings of twenty-two major Nazi criminals. Twelve prominent Nazis were sentenced to death.

JOURNAL #10. 1 • Find a group of 3 -4 people, including you • For some of the questions, you’ll respond individually and then share out; for other questions you’ll discuss first and then write a brief summary of your conversation • Regardless of question, each response should be 3 -4 sentences

QUESTION 1: INDIVIDUAL RESPONSE FIRST • Milgram’s video: How do you respond to authority? What category(ies) (obey but justify, obey and blame self, rebel) do you see yourself in? Why? Provide some personal examples.

QUESTION 2: GROUP DISCUSSION FIRST • Think about people in positions of authority. What are the qualities that differentiate authority figures, i. e. , how do leadership styles vary? Would certain qualities make you more likely to follow one leader instead of another? What are the leadership characteristics that would encourage obedience in followers?

QUESTION 3: GROUP DISCUSSION FIRST • Think about people in a position to follow others. Are people who “compromise their own ethics in order to obey authority” responsible for their treatment of others, if they’re being ordered to commit harm? • Why do you think people follow the instructions of authority so closely, even if they are technically able to “disobey”? Why do you think some of the study participants administered the “deadly” shocks, even though they knew it was wrong?