Theories On Obedience

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Obedience

Obedience is defined as a person obeying the orders or instructions from an authority figure. There are many studies and theories which attempt to explain obedience. Stanley Milgram conducted an experiment in 1960s with the aim of investigating whether people would obey a legitimate authority figure even if they were asked to do something that was clearly morally wrong. 40 male volunteers took part after seeing an advertisement asking for volunteers in a study about punishment and learning, they were told they would be paid for their time even if they didn't finish the study. The study was conducted in the prestigious Yale University. Milgram employed an ' experimenter ', who would be dressed in a white coat, and a ' learner ' who would look like a normal civilian who would be wired to an ' electric shock machine'. The participant, or 'teacher 'would be controlling the electric shock machine, and would be in an adjacent room to the learner. The teacher was required to ask the learner questions, and administer a (fake) electric shock of increasing voltage every time the learner gave a wrong answer. The learner was instructed to, at the level of 300