Experiments on Obedience and getting opinions after pressure.

Essay by doublespeak November 2003

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Obedience to orders and change of opinions under pressure

The society, which we live in, is filled with different people from different cultures and different backgrounds. Every person has his own personality, his own likes and dislikes, and his own ability to make a judgment about something. These are the characteristics that make a person individual and unique. However, as individualistic and unique as people are, in certain situations they are willing to give up their individuality and follow orders.

According to studies of some psychologist most people are likely to accept authorities orders and change their judgment simply because it differs with others. In some cases people are willing to go against their own senses in order to adapt to the majority. Although they feel that their opinion is the right one and because of some reason all others must be wrong, the experiments show how most people are ready to give in rather to be independent and stick to their own opinion (Asch 339).

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A change of opinion occurs also when there is an authority figure. In their ordinary lives most people are able to tell right from wrong and they know what is immoral and what is morally correct but under authority's pressure this changes. Instead of insisting on their own judgment and confronting the authority, most of the time people simply choose to obey. Sometimes this obedience leads to violation of other people's rights (Milagram 347). The experiments conducted to investigate obedience to authority consisted of a learner, a teacher who was made the subject of the experiment, an electric chair and a devise to regulate the

current to the electric chair. The learner was placed in the electric chair while the teacher was told that what would happen that during the experiment would help...