Following Orderss: Why Do People Follow An Order?

Obedience to people in authority is a deep-rooted trait that we all possess by virtue of our upbringing, and as Milgram put it, “it is only the person dwelling in isolation who is not forced to respond, with defiance or submission, to the commands of others” (Milgram 1974). This trait is exhibited every day in family circles, workplace and school. People are most likely to obey instructions from people they perceive their authority to be legal or moral. We see people obeying their pastors, leaders in various societies and other people they see as higher to them; and they obey anything they are being told even if it involves killing another human being. They justify their actions, however wrong, on obedience to authority.

The second reason people obey is called the momentum of compliance. Otherwise known as the ‘foot in the door’ technique, it is usually used by salesmen as they are trying to sell items, they start up with the smaller items and work their way up to the bigger, more costly items. Smith and Mackie (2003) found that similar processes take part in real-life crimes where criminals usually work their way up from smaller crimes to bigger, life threatening crimes. Milgram found that the momentum of compliance was found in his experiment, as the switches were going up in only 15v each time the participant started small and worked their way up to the bigger shocks and then without it actually hitting home, they’ve actually killed someone but they weren’t able to stop. Like the well-known Pringles saying ‘once you pop you can’t stop’.

Many of the standards that I would have frowned upon outside the u s army are essential to the work success within the United States military. Punishment of not following orders is not deemed to be a positive occurrence in an average person’s life, whereas the United States military guide maintains that punishment strengthens my determination and discipline and enables me to learn and fully take the importance of following orders in US army seriously. Not following orders is not an optional choice while living the standards of the United States military.

     Following authority is most noticed when it comes to military. Soldiers will do almost anything that their commander tells them. In a good way this is useful but when what they are doing is morally wrong there should be boundaries. But there are none and if they don’t do what they are told then they have to face the punishment. But

The key to all of teamwork, leading, and following is adhering to the instructions of those appointed over you which brings me to my next point. As soldiers we are drilled almost everyday to listen to commanders, NCO's and basically everyone higher in rank than us or in some cases people that have more time in service. We are taught discipline from day one in basic training when we hit the ground the first time doing pushups to the last right face in the last ceremony before we see our families. Discipline is crucial to following orders effectively, without it soldiers would not react fast enough to what is being said or would simply not care enough about the task at hand to perform it, weakening the team it

Following orders is of the utmost importance in the military. Obedience is what enables the military to operate in an organized and effective manner which is clearly very important during challenging military situations. While an individual can question the notion of obedience in daily life, this luxury is often not available in the military where the grand goals and aims require smooth internal functioning and hierarchical coordination. Indeed, many of the standards that would be frowned upon outside the military are essential to the work's success within. For example, punishment is not deemed to be a positive occurrence in an average person’s life, whereas the military guide maintains that punishment

We are prone to obey because when we are obedient to an authority it makes us feel safe and protected. We can’t make mistakes because the authority decides for us. We can’t be alone, because the authority watches over us. So, no matter what our behavior is, it can be justified on the ground that we are only following orders, doing what we’re told from above. We can easily be brought to view ourselves as an instrument for carrying out another person’s wishes, and so we no longer feel responsible for our actions. Unfortunately, that can make us feel responsible to the authority, instead of the content of the orders the authority is giving. Morality is still there, but the focus is changed. We feel the need to perform well, out of obligation or duty, to those who are in authority.

The power that a situation can have on a person is simply incredible. This power of situation and obedience go hand in hand, people get caught up in a situation because of the obedience they were taught as children. In society obedience is the key, allowing things to run smoothly and helps to prevent chaos. But in some instances that obedience can over take and cause a person to do things that they normally wouldn’t; whether it be following orders to an extreme extent or even doing things that people would consider to be inhumane. This has been shown many times in social psychology throughout history. The Milgram Experiment attempted to prove that in a situation that a person who feel trapped could even kill a person; the Stanford Prison

This book, Violence and Social Orders by North, Wallis, and Weingast, attempts to explain their concepts of how a society develops in three central ideas, the transitional phase from a pre-1800 Natural State to an Open Access Order, the permanence of a Natural State during the modern period, and the difference between societies on how to handle the issue of violence. What becomes clear throughout this book is that natural states have not, as one would expect with 200 years of global development, have not disappeared. Rather, they have evolved from fragile and basic natural states to mature natural states, a distinction which is expanded upon later in the book. Most importantly, the change associated with the creation of open access orders has

display. In turn they had to say out loud which one of three lines was

Would you ever blatantly follow the direct steps of a group of people let alone a person who is morally wrong and keep your loyalty to them although others are ignoring their immoral misconduct? Well point in case with an excessive compliance to their leader Hitler, whom convinced Germans they were part of a new group of people, which led to the massacre of millions of innocent and Jewish people. As a consequence of their loyalty To their job and tasks at hand no matter how morally wrong they knew they were, clearly keeping their loyalty was not in good effect of that group.

we are forced into following after the person who is in authority only because we believe that

Rules are statement on what can, should or must be done in particular circumstances. They govern our daily life whether we are aware of them or not. Rules are divided into two, direct rules(written formal rules) such as laws regarding manslaughter or incest and indirect rules(unwritten informal rules) such as norms, values and traditions of a particular society. Social expectation serves as a powerful tool to reinforce common beliefs and hopes. For example, in the old days women are expected to be submissive, inferior and graceful and men masculine, dominant and tough. Clearly such traits are socially constructed.

Obedience is “following orders from an authority figure.” Obedience is following orders from someone one has more power than them, examples of this are parents, teachers, officers and leaders in the military. This definition is often paired with the idea that people will do anything if an authority figure tells them to do, which is explore in Milgram’s study of obedience aimed to justify the actions of accused war criminals from WWII during the Nuremberg War Criminal trials.