Stanley Milgram’s obedience experiment was fascinating, albeit morally wrong, look into how people react in situations where there is an authority figure. According to Milgram his goal was to find out, “What is there in human nature that allows an individual to act without any restraints whatsoever so that he can act inhumanely, harshly, severely, and in no way limited by feelings of compassion or conscience.” I believe that Milgram was able to discover how these things happen; although, why they happen is still unclear and I don’t think we’re ever going to really understand this. In his experiment Milgram showed that people are willing to go beyond what they think is right if there is an authority figure telling them what to do because they feel less responsible for their acts if they can give the responsibility to an authority figure. Hebert Winer, a participant in the study, perfectly summarized the strength of this experiment when he said, “You don’t ask what people would do given this hypothetical situation, you put them in the situation.” Winer’s quote is correct because if any of us were asked what we would do in the situation we would probably all say that we would resist authority. However, when put in the actual situation we have no idea how we would react. The question still remains why? Why do we feel less responsible for our actions when we can blame others for it, especially given the fact that those inflicting the pain were never in any danger. They weren’t being threatened or even coerced and the only reason they did what they were told is because a perceived authority figure was the one giving the instructions.
Elviris Rodriguez
I honestly agree that people are capable of doing things as long as they feel that all the responsibility will fall on them. The quotation that you used further backed this point because many times in my life and by observing other people I often hear ‘If I was in this situation I would have…”. Most of the time it seems like the most logical thing to do but it was easy for them to say that because they weren’t in that situation. But in reality, if they were in that situation, it’d be a very different result from what they perceived.
I agree with you when you said that people will follow orders given by authority figures if they believe there is no responsibility on them. Without the heavy weight of responsibility looming over people’s heads, they are more likely to follow through with any inhumane act, even if their conscious mind is against it. You also brought up a good point on hypothetical versus real life situation. It is true that if one were to hear about this experiment then anyone would instantly say “no that’s horrible, why would I follow that?” but if one were put in that exact situation, no one knows what exactly will happen.
-Sumaiyah Ali
I agree with your statement that people are more willingly to follow when they feel that they are the one in charge, therefore they are not responsible for whatever happens. In the experiment, there was one participant who were have conflict about continuing the experiment and asked the researcher who was held responsible if anything happened. When the researcher claimed responsibility, the participant turned back to continue the experiment. Once they have the mindset that they are not held accountable, it becomes more acceptable to the participants. They know what they are doing is wrong but because they are submissive to an authority figure, it becomes a conflict. Whether to do the ethical and right thing or to obey someone who they view as above.