Obedience Paper

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The Discoveries of Obedience

Obedience; what does the word really mean? According to Griggs (2012), “Obedience is following the commands of a persons authority”(p.331). A psychologist named Milgram decided to take obedience deeper and studied it from the history to his basic discoveries and later results. Taking a look back at history for example, “My Lai Massacre, where soldiers were ordered to shoot the innocent villagers, including children, women and the elderly”(Griggs 2012). This is a prime example of the definition. Their ruler had authority; they looked up to them and listened to what he or she was telling them. They showed obedience.
Based on Milgram’s studies of obedience his basic findings displayed several outcomes. The experiment he conducted was, there was a teacher and learner. The learner had to use his or her memory to remember certain words or phrases. If they got it wrong they got “shocked”. At least the teacher thought they got shocked, but in reality they didn’t the study was on the teacher. Milgram’s findings found that the “learner and teacher in separate rooms resulted in 62.5% continued to fulfill the maximum voltage 450”(Griggs 2012). He realized different conditions resulted in how far the teacher was willing to take the experiment.
Later variations based on the experiment Milgram conducted were, “teacher and learner in the same room with a 40% of maximum obedience. Another was teacher has to force learners hand on the shock plate which ended in 30% maximum obedience”(Griggs 2012). You see, the statics change based on whether or not the learner and teacher are in the same room, if they are giving the shocks and more. The more the teacher feels like it is their fault likely the percentage of maximum obedience decreases as well.
Overall, based one our discussions in class, the movie we watched and with the book in mind; there is clarity on why people actually obey. One reason is Hierarchy of Responsibility. Where this takes us is,” they continuously ask to make sure it’s not their fault. If it is not their fault people are driven to listen and or obey more”(Madey 2015). In other words, everyone has a conscience and as long as they don’t have guilt that may come out of
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