Page 576 - Understanding Psychology

Figure 19.14 Obeying Orders
Military pilots do not witness the conse- quences of their actions. They identify and kill their enemies simply by targeting a blip on a radar screen. Why might it be easier to obey if you are shielded from the con- sequences of your actions?
1. Review the Vocabulary Give an exam- ple of a way you show conformity.
2. Visualize the Main Idea Duplicate and complete the chart below, describing the Asch experiment.
The Asch Experiment
3. Recall Information How is compliance related to conformity? Explain.
4. Think Critically Do you think that conforming to a group is always a negative thing to do? Explain.
5. Application Activity
Hypothesis:
Method:
Results:
Try this experiment with your family or group of friends. Stare at the ceil-
ing continuously for a time. Do other people start to look up at the ceiling also? Why or why not? Explain the principles behind this experiment.
illnesses and rashes. The emotional reactions were so extreme that experimenters ended the planned two-week experiment after only six days. It seems that the prison environment was much stronger than individual personalities. Although the partici- pants in this experiment were emotionally mature and stable (according to tests administered before the experiment), the roles these individuals adopted changed the way they acted. There may be other situations in everyday life that cause us and those around us to act in ways we do not expect.
In follow-up interviews, none of the partici- pants reported any lasting effects. Some of the participants had difficulty understanding how pow- erful the experiment had become. The experiment not only changed the ethical standards of experi- mentation in psychology but it also demonstrated the power that situations can have in changing how we feel, think, and behave. The social situa- tion of being in the prison changed the rules, roles, and expectations of the students (Zimbardo, 1975).
Why did the Germans obey Adolf Hitler’s com- mands to commit genocide during World War II? Why do cult members sometimes consent to their leaders’ orders to commit suicide? After all, these leaders’ commands are clearly unreasonable, right? Psychologists have proposed that people learn to obey authority figures. Throughout our lives, we obey parents, doctors, teachers, and religious leaders. Throughout our lives, we also have learned to follow orders. We follow traffic rules, school rules, and parental rules. However, we are more likely
to follow these rules when the authority figure is actually present.
Assessment
Why Do People Obey?
562 Chapter 19 / Group Interaction