Journal of abnormal and social psychology, 67, 3778. Socialpsychological analysis of the blind side essay. Film analysis psychology 280 socialpsychological analysis of the blind side the blind side depicts the story of michael oher, a seventeen year old african american homeless boy from a broken home, taken in by leigh anne tuohy, a wife and mom of two living in a well todo neighborhood. Experiments conducted by asch, milgram, and zimbardo show human individuality is often subverted by the blind obedience humans feel towards those in a position of power.
While social psychology tends to be an academic field, the research that social psychologists perform can and does have a powerful influence on our understanding of various aspects of mental health and wellbeing. Conformity and obedience video behavior khan academy. This stated, the authors, both social psychologists, proceed to examine the my lai. This book explains how individuals in authority can abuse their power by failing to distinguish between discipline and blind obedience. Perfect for acing essays, tests, and quizzes, as well as for writing lesson plans. Authority and hierarchy may be adaptive in certain contexts, but that does not legitimize blind obedience to an immoral authority. It is therefore clear that the social act of the order or command is central to conceptions of obedience in social psychology, and yet few researchers have sought to explicitly define these terms. Therefore, the person giving the order has a higher status than the person receiving the order. Now, what can we do in the face of blind obedience. Of course, such blindness to the reality of evil and tragedy is what makes letting it happen so easy. The milgram experiments on obedience to authority figures was a series of social psychology experiments conducted by yale university psychologist stanley milgram. Instead, obedience involves altering your behavior because a figure of. The term obedience refers to direct requests from an authority figure to one or more persons nail et al. Students can download and print out these lecture slide images to do practice problems as well as take notes while watching the lecture.
Crimes of obedience should be required reading for every american citizen. The role of obedience in society inquiries journal. Choose from 500 different sets of chapter 6 social psychology conformity obedience flashcards on quizlet. Understanding behavior in the milgram obedience experiment. Fortunately, there are many out there, and they cover a wide variety of topics social influence, marketing, persuasion, social constructs, etc.
Obedience is a change in behavior as a result of a direct command from an authority figure. The role of personality, situations, and their interactions. Exploring social psychology ebook written by david myers. Social psychology looks at how people are influenced as well as how they influence others. Social influence is a phenomenon we experience everyday. Obedience is the change of an individuals behavior to comply with a demand by an authority figure. Voiceover i want to start off by talking about the differences between conformity and obedience, because while these two terms are sometimes used interchangeably, in psychology they refer to different, albeit related things. There are also a number of factors that can influence obedience. Obedience is an active form of influence in that it is usually directly initiated by an authority figure and is typically external in that overt behaviors are generally the focus of commands. Milgrams findings are reliable the study is replicable due to its standardised procedure which means. The power of social influence is enormous, but so is the power of the individual.
Social psychology has shown the power of the crowd for decades. It differs from compliance which involves changing your behavior at the request of another person and conformity which involves altering your behavior in order to go along with the rest of the group. Within his piece, obedience to authority, milgram explains the negative effects of obedience, which challenge our societys stability. Conformity, obedience, and infuence in social psychology. Nonviolent fasts and appeals by gandhi led to the independence of india from the british. The word obedience is usually associated with a human behavior that is characterized by the act of carrying out commands. For example, it can be found in textbooks, such as kassin, fein, and markuss 2017, p. Obedience is generally distinguished from compliance, which is behavior influenced by peers, and from conformity, which is behavior intended to match that of the majority. The findings raise questions about the power of blind obedience in deplorable situations such as atrocities and genocide. Milgram experiment obedience obedience and milgram milgram hitler real world obedience the power of the situation. Level of destructive obedience as a function of transmitter and executant roles in the milgram obedience paradigm. Stanley milgram, a professor of social psychology at yale milgram, pp. Personality, social and clinical perspectives, returning home. The impact of milgrams obedience studies on personality and social psychology replicating milgram.
Because of some prominent differences, social influence has been grouped into three different categories. Factors that influence obedience and conformity video. A summary of obedience and authority in s social psychology. In the 1960s, the social psychologist stanley milgram did a famous research study called. Inouye this is a major book in social psychology that deserves the attention of both sociological and.
If this is your goal, reading a healthy selection of world renown psychology books is a must. For example, in the 1960s, psychologists stanley milgram, phd, leonard bickman, phd, and lawrence berkowitz, edd, demonstrated social influence by having a group of people on a busy new. While they share various similarities when compared against each other, and even among each other, they hold several distinct qualities. Obedience and conformity are two kinds of social influences when people change attitude or behavior under the influence of the views of others.
If someone who is not a social psychologist knows anything about social. Conformity and obedience, professors can easily adopt. An experimental view harper perennial modern thought. Obedience is compliance with commands given by an authority figure. The acceptance of guilt and debt is the mark of a negative image and the wait for atonement is the mark of a reflector. Perhaps you were surprised about the wide variety of phenomenaranging from the unaware imitation of others to leadership to blind obedience to authoritythat involve social influence. I have not thought it necessary to enter into a discussion of the exact scope of social psychology. Conformity and obedience are central concepts to social influence and the studies discussed in this paper gave both. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read exploring social psychology. Conformity and obedience are central concepts to social influence and the studies discussed in this paper gave both classical.
Conformity and obedience problem solving in teams and groups. Of course, such blindness to the reality of evil and tragedy is what makes letting it. The quality of exposition in the book i s so high that it. Thinking like a social psychologist about social influence.
And its usually done in order to avoid negative consequences associated with disobeying. Some things we now know about obedience to authority. We have been trained to practice obedience, but the majority is far more likely to obey for a bad cause run by a specific powerauthority, rather than use it to make a positive difference. The effects of descriptive norms on pregaming behavior. Obedience, power, and leadership principles of social. In order for human beings to maintain their individuality and a stable society, a balance between obedience and insubordination must be found. Yet because you are thinking like a social psychologist, you will realize why.
They measured the willingness of study participants, men from a diverse range of occupations with varying levels of education, to obey an authority figure who instructed them to perform acts conflicting with their personal conscience. History of obedience and conformity with the utterance of research in obedience, stanley milgram is the epithet in social psychology. Readings and conversations in social psychology, edited by edward krupat of the massachusetts college of pharmacy and allied health sciences, now in its fourth edition, exposes students to a wide spectrum of research and opinion, including articles by and interviews with highly acclaimed social psychologists. Journal of personality and social psychology, 603, 3984. Thinking like a social psychologist about conformity 2012 book. Reconnecting with our childhood and personality, a textbook now in its ninth edition. Depending on context, obedience can be seen as moral, immoral, or amoral. Learn exactly what happened in this chapter, scene, or section of social psychology and what it means. Find the top 100 most popular items in amazon books best sellers. The milgram experiment on obedience to authority figures was a series of notable social psychology experiments conducted by yale university psychologist stanley milgram which measured the willingness of study participants to obey an authority figure who instructed them to perform acts that conflicted with their personal conscience. Obedience occurs when you are told to do something authority, whereas conformity happens through social pressure the norms of the majority obedience involves a hierarchy of power status.
This is also closely related to tajfels social identity theory 1974. Hoflings hospital experiment of obedience simply psychology. The concept of obedience in psychology verywell mind. The ontogenesis of our conscious self and the concinnity of our shadow spring directly from our seedlings saturated in the rich milieu of our nations external and internal conflicts and our personalized social, political, and cultural interactions. Psychologists have typically defined obedience as a form of social. Conformity and obedience introduction to psychology. Obedience in social psychology essay example topics and. Obedience derives from a kind of social pressure that compels one to do something in reaction to an order given by another individual who is in a position of authority. For example, research on conformity has contributed to our understanding of why teenagers sometimes go to such great lengths to fit in with their social groupsometimes to the. Stanley milgram taught social psychology at yale university and harvard. Social or group influence is a very important part of social psychology research, and there have been many studies conducted over the years demonstrating these types of behaviors.
Conformity, or peer pressure, describes how adjust our behavior or thinking in order to go along with a group. Milgrams experiments on obedience have made us more aware of the dangers of uncritically accepting authority. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. People often comply with the request because they are concerned about a consequence if they do not comply. His primary research interests are in the area of social influence, especially processes related to obedience, compliance and social norms. The end three of the studies mentioned use controlled methods, with two being conducted in labs. Learn chapter 6 social psychology conformity obedience with free interactive flashcards. Social psychology conformity and obedience top hat.
Thinking like a social psychologist about social influence this chapter has concerned the many and varied ways that social influence pervades our everyday lives. Obedience, in human behavior, is a form of social influence in which a person yields to explicit instructions or orders from an authority figure. Alevel psychology social influence revision notes zimbardo prison study. I have chosen to work with two categories from social psychology that are especially useful for an analysis of the characters. Obedience is a form of social influence that involves performing an action under the orders of an authority figure. Coverage of milgrams obedience experiments in social psychology. The milgram experiments on obedience to authority figures was a series of social psychology experiments conducted by yale university psychologist stanley. Therefore strong control over extraneous variables making the studies reliable. Exploring social psychology by david myers books on. An experimental view the resistance library milgram.
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