The Perils Of Obedience, By Philip Zimbardo Essay

In 1963, Yale psychologist Stanley Milgram conducted a disputable, but highly revered, study on obedience. The experiment was designed to test people’s morals versus an extreme authority, but, as predicted, obedience prevailed. Then in 1973, Philip G. Zimbardo created his own experiment, not unlike Milgram’s, that analyzed the potential of individuals to withstand the pressure of succumbing to an obedient role based on the environment. Both Stanley Milgram, author of â€Å"The Perils of Obedience,† and Philip Zimbardo, author of â€Å"The Stanford Prison Experiment,† conducted controversial experiments that proved that when an ordinary person was put into a different role it affected their obedience to authority. In his article, Milgram pointed out that his study found that sixty percent of ordinary people would agree to obey an authority figure even to the point of severely hurting another human being (Milgram 582). Zimbardo wanted to study and comprehend how prisoners lost their freedom, rights, privacy, and become more obedient but, he also wanted to understand how the guards gained their power and control from the situation (Zimbardo 620). Either way, the experiments highlighted how much of a person’s obedience could be affected based off of the specific roles that they are put in. Zimbardo began his experiment by publically arresting his prisoners, and he made sure that there was no difference between all of the men. They were all average and separated into the two groupsShow MoreRelatedThe Perils Of Obedience, And A Few Good Men1059 Words   |  5 Pagesdefend the nation. It required unquestioning commitment and obedience to orders. The articles, â€Å"The Perils of Obedience† by Stanley Milgram and â€Å"The Stanford Prison Experiment† by Philip G. Zimbardo mainly focuses on potential of â€Å"evil in ordinary people when placed in situations where a higher authority is operated against the individuals own moral (Milgram) or when potential perpetrators are given total power over defenseless victims (Zimbardo). A Few Good Men is a story about two Marines, Lance CorporalRead MoreEssay on Obedience to Authority574 Words   |  3 PagesObedience to Authority Today our society raises us to believe that obedience is good and disobedience is bad. We are taught that we should all do what we’re told and that the people that are disobedient are almost always bad people. Society tells us this, but it is not true. Most people will even be obedient to the point of causing harm to others, because to be disobedient requires the courage to be alone against authority. In Stanley Milgram’s Perils of Obedience experiment, his studiesRead MoreThe Perils Of Obedience By Milgram And The Stanford Prison Experiment1207 Words   |  5 PagesHumanity will always question the idea of obedience. Two prestigious psychologists, Stanley Milgram and Philip G. Zimbardo, conducted practical obedience experiments with astonishing results. Shocked by the amount of immoral obedience, both doctors wrote articles exploring the reasoning for the test subjects unorthodox manners. In The Perils of Obedience by Milgram and The Stanford Prison Experiment b y Zimbardo, the professionals reflect their thoughts in a logical manner. Milgram s experimentRead MoreSummary Of The Perils Of Obedience Essay979 Words   |  4 Pagesa profound psychologist, conducted an experiment of obedience, which became immensely popular and revealed the power of obedience in today s world. Milgram presented his findings in his article, The Perils of Obedience. Like Milgram, Philip Zimbardo, professor of psychology at Stanford University at the time, conducted the Stanford Prison Experiment, which tested average people s abilities, or lack thereof, to resist authority or obedience. Lee Ross, professor of psychology at Stanford UniversityRead MoreThe Negative Effects of Obedience1308 Words   |  6 Pages Throughout the years obedience has had an enormous effect on human history. It has caused nations to rise and fall, prosper and suffer; yet it has also brought destruction among innocent people. The Jewish holocaust is one of the best public ized examples of the perils of obedience. Hitler caused otherwise normal people to commit atrocious acts, acts that greatly reduced the number of Jewish people. Philip Zimbardo, a professor of psychology at Stanford university, questions to whatRead MoreEssay on Best-Known Examples of the Perils of Obedience1294 Words   |  6 PagesThroughout the years obedience has had an enormous effect on human history. It has caused nations to rise and fall, prosper and suffer; yet it has also brought destruction among innocent people in several gruesome measures. The holocaust is one of the best known examples of the perils of obedience. Hitler caused otherwise normal people to commit atrocious acts, acts that nearly exterminated all of the Jewish people. Philip Zimbardo, a professor of psychology at Stanford university, questions toRead MoreObedience to Authority Essay1331 Words   |  6 Pagessuccumb to obedience even when common sense tells them that what they are doing is wrong. Zimbar do’s Stanford Prison experiment, Milgram’s electric shock study, and the scandal surrounding Abu Ghraib are reflections on the outcome of obeying a command regardless of the results and why someone would do so. An experiment by Zimbardo provided insight on how a regular person changes roles when placed within a specific social setting. The Stanford Prison Experiment was conducted by Zimbardo strictly onRead MoreObedience As the Means to a Peaceful Life Essay1542 Words   |  7 Pagesthe name of obedience. Zimbardo, Milgram and Orwell show that obedience is a response to the role one assumes in life; to find personal satisfaction and inner peace, one must demonstrate obedience. As found in the infamous Stanford Prison Study, the conviction with which people assume their roles, as well as the extreme behavior they are willing to go to perpetuate their role and demonstrate obedience to the perceived authority stunned even the designer of the study, Phillip Zimbardo. In this studyRead MoreThe Stanford Prison Experiment Essay1207 Words   |  5 PagesAnthony Westcott English 252-Instructor Levine Writing Assignment 2 October 26, 2015 The Stanford Prison Experiment During the summer of 1973 an experiment of the psychology of imprisonment was conducted by psychologist Philip K. Zimbardo. Zimbardo created his own jail in the basement in the Stanford University psychology building. Every participant had to be mentally and physically fit in order to participate in this experiment. Participants were randomly split into two groups’, guards and prisonersRead MoreAnalysis Of Zimbardos The Perils Of Obedience1189 Words   |  5 PagesStanley Milgram, an American social psychologist, writes in his article â€Å"The Perils of Obedience† about an experiment he designed which forced participants to either obey the demands of an authority figure, in this case the experimenter, or to turn against obedience and refuse to proceed in the experiment (Milgram 78). He found from this experiment that a minority of the participants refused to obey orders by the experimenter; therefore, most of the participants followed the orders given by the experime nter