Essay on Obedience to Authority

There are little facts about the role of obedience up until now. Psychologists have been debating on factors that constitute obedience within an individual. For example, certain theories suggest that people do horrible actions only if they are ordered to do so. Research has shown that most people obey all orders given to them by the authority-figure. The idea for this topic came to me while flipping through channels. I came across a show called 20/20, on the Investigative Discovery Channel. The show goes through a series of crimes and murders and provides insight on how the crime came to be and why. On a particular episode, a successful businessman orders a new intern to “take care” of someone to gain favor from him. The intern is noted to be kind and helpful by his friends and family, fresh out of college and very hopeful. So it shocked them to hear that he had murdered someone. Would he have committed this crime if he wasn’t told to? That is what I seek to know more about.

Erich Fromm’s essay “Disobedience as a Psychological and Moral Problem” suggests that humankind’s evolution has, and continues to rely on man’s capability to exercise disobedience. While discussing the positions of disobedience being considered a vice, and obedience being a virtue, Fromm reflects upon the history of Adam and Eve believing that “eating the forbidden fruit” was man’s first act of disobedience. This is the point that broke the bond between man and nature requiring man to be dependant upon his own powers, while rewarding him with his “complete” humanity, freedom,

The author exemplifies the ways that disobedience helps the society and its contribution to furthering the human race but notes on the fact that blind obedience may eventually account for the end of civilization.

In society, obedience to authority is ingrained in humanity from an early age, causing some individuals to blindly obey orders without contemplating the credibility of the source. In psychoanalyst Erich Fromm’s article “Disobedience as a Psychological and Moral Problem,” he explains that throughout human history obedience has been associated with virtue and disobedience with sin (Fromm 127). Fromm suggests that our conscience is an internalized voice of authority (126). Fromm claims individuals need to distinguish the difference between rational and irrational authority because obedience is effective when individuals want to obey, instead of fearing to disobey (127). Two other authors who examine obedience are Herbert C. Kelman and V. Lee

Obedience is following instruction from a figure of authority. (Callaghan and Lazard,

Obedience is a basic behavior that practically everyone has. Unfortunately, some authority is essential for community living. In a way, obedience is a form of submission as old as time itself. Society appears threatened by disobedience and hesitation. In the experiments described in “The Perils of Obedience”, ethics and hesitation get in the way of obedience.

Remember the apostle Paul in many places instructed us to submit to the authorities, to honor the ruler, to obey the governor, and to

People are willing to do almost anything when it comes to obeying authority. When presented with the option of submitting to power or doing what is morally correct, the choice is usually obedience. As a matter of fact, in 2013 an experiment was conducted in which subjects were told to commit atrocious acts simply because a  man in charge asked them to. In the experiment two subjects were chosen to be either the learner or teacher. The teacher would ask the learner a series of questions, if they get an answer wrong they got a shock. The studies showed that “over half of the people tested were willing to give a lethal shock all because a man in a

Both Milgram’s study and experiment in California, show that the majority of individuals will obey the orders given by authority figures, regardless of the implications attached to their actions. This is known as blind obedience. The thing about blind obedience is it doesn’t just come out of nowhere, it is stemmed from the belief that what an individual is doing is right.

cars. Without this obedience there would be no order or consistency on the road leading to many problems. Another type of appropriate obedience would be in war, soldiers must obey their authority figures creating structure. This structure allows armies to work as one in order to accomplish whatever necessary. If this structure did not exist, soldiers would act freely which would lead to them being killed and other life threatening problems. However, there are instances when obedience can be inappropriate. Blind obedience is one example of this inappropriate obedience that occurs when individuals obey without contemplating their actions. Blindly obeying orders from an authority figure can lead to disturbing behaviour, which was illustrated in

The Obedience study that was conducted by Stanley Milgrim in 1974 addressed a person’s obedience to an authority figure. The participants in the study were asked by a person in a lab coat (authority figure) to shock learners (who were confederates). Milgrim found that the participants in the study obeyed the authority figure, because they felt that they were not in control and were not responsible for the shocking of the learners (Gardner, Williams, & Sadri, 2007; Myers & Twenge, 2013). The idea of obedience is linked to the power of situations for people, which can induce seemingly normal people into the engagement of cruelty against other people (Myers & Twenge,

Obedience is related to the intelligence of every person. If something seems wrong, we will be disobedient. Disobedience should not be considered as a rebellious act, as long as we use our intelligence to make a decision.

Obedience is the influence where individual acts in response to a direct order. We obey orders and do as we are told by authority or our friends and family. the Standford Prision Experiment is an example of obedience. College students were split up into 2 groups of officers and prisoners. Over the course of 2 weeks, the prisoner's suffered intense emotional stress by obeying orders from the officers in their own powerlessness. We have changed our thoughts on conformity based on our views over time. We obey laws and orders because we do not want the negative consequences that follow it.

It’s important to explore the sociology and psychology behind people choosing to obey authority even against their own conscience because it can help us recognize and resist influence directed towards us and others. In this research paper, we will explore the obedience class of social influence.

Obedience is psychology means when a person follows an order from an authority figure. This may mean what they are doing is wrong but they still do it anyways and this is a form of social influence. This is similar to conformity but differs by it being from a group instead of an authority figure. You are taking an order from someone, the order is from an authority figure, and this is all based on social power. An example of obedience in my everyday life is when you are simply going to school. You follow the professor’s instructions. If they tell you that you have an exam, you take the exam. If they tell you to write something down, you do it. We follow these instructions because we are taught from the beginning that these people are the authority.