Obedience Studies

Obedience studies, particularly those by psychologist Stanley Milgram in the 1960s, explored how individuals respond to authority figures. In Milgram's experiment, participants were instructed to administer electric shocks to others (who were actually actors and not harmed) as punishment for incorrect answers. The results revealed that a significant number of participants were willing to comply with authority, even when it conflicted with their moral beliefs. These studies highlight the powerful influence of authority on human behavior, raising important questions about ethics, personal responsibility, and the potential consequences of blind obedience in various contexts, including history and social psychology.