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Nov 15, 2023 · n. the capacity to influence others. Formal authority enables an individual to exert influence as a result of either high, legally recognized office (legitimate authority) or high rank in a long-established but not legally codified hierarchy (traditional authority). Informal authority is based on the individual having either attributes that ...
The APA’s definition of psychology is very broad. According to the APA’s website (American Psychological Association, n.d.) “psychology” is the study of both normal and abnormal functioning. The discipline of psychology seeks to uncover the relationships between the mind, the brain, behavior, and the environment.
- Overview
- Authority as a psychological question
To some psychologists, the interesting issue concerning authority is how it can overcome other considerations in compelling individuals to obey orders, especially basic considerations such as survival and basic morality. In the latter half of the 20th century, this question took on particular importance as social scientists struggled to make sense of the nightmares of World War II, particularly the willingness of ordinary German citizens and soldiers to take part in the extermination of Jewish and other minorities in the concentration camps. Stanley Milgram, a social psychologist at Yale University, conducted the most famous (and infamous) of these studies, the ”Milgram experiment,” designed to understand the limits of a person’s willingness to obey authority. Milgram discovered, as he later wrote in his book Obedience to Authority (1974), that adults would do almost anything when commanded by an authority, including inflicting painful electric shocks remotely on an unseen person (who, unknown to the subject, did not actually receive any such shocks). He traced this willingness, in no small part, to the division of labour that characterizes modern society and alienates individuals from the consequences of their own actions.
The willingness of individuals to authorize others to control them raises a serious dilemma. On the one hand, this willingness to obey represents one of the key psychological underpinnings of complex organizations. For example, the reason companies adopt hierarchies rather than leaving every corporate practice or decision to be worked out by ad hoc means is that it is more efficient and less costly for a person to obey a superior rather than engaging in constant negotiations. On the other hand, many of the most infamous moral lapses in recent organizational history have involved individuals who were willing to follow authoritative commands rather than questioning their morality. For political philosopher Hannah Arendt, commenting on the behaviour of Adolf Eichmann during World War II, this “banality of evil” represents the ultimate horror of bureaucracy, in which even unspeakable acts can become normal and routine through the exercise of authority.
To some psychologists, the interesting issue concerning authority is how it can overcome other considerations in compelling individuals to obey orders, especially basic considerations such as survival and basic morality. In the latter half of the 20th century, this question took on particular importance as social scientists struggled to make sense of the nightmares of World War II, particularly the willingness of ordinary German citizens and soldiers to take part in the extermination of Jewish and other minorities in the concentration camps. Stanley Milgram, a social psychologist at Yale University, conducted the most famous (and infamous) of these studies, the ”Milgram experiment,” designed to understand the limits of a person’s willingness to obey authority. Milgram discovered, as he later wrote in his book Obedience to Authority (1974), that adults would do almost anything when commanded by an authority, including inflicting painful electric shocks remotely on an unseen person (who, unknown to the subject, did not actually receive any such shocks). He traced this willingness, in no small part, to the division of labour that characterizes modern society and alienates individuals from the consequences of their own actions.
The willingness of individuals to authorize others to control them raises a serious dilemma. On the one hand, this willingness to obey represents one of the key psychological underpinnings of complex organizations. For example, the reason companies adopt hierarchies rather than leaving every corporate practice or decision to be worked out by ad hoc means is that it is more efficient and less costly for a person to obey a superior rather than engaging in constant negotiations. On the other hand, many of the most infamous moral lapses in recent organizational history have involved individuals who were willing to follow authoritative commands rather than questioning their morality. For political philosopher Hannah Arendt, commenting on the behaviour of Adolf Eichmann during World War II, this “banality of evil” represents the ultimate horror of bureaucracy, in which even unspeakable acts can become normal and routine through the exercise of authority.
Apr 7, 2013 · n. the capacity to influence others either directly or indirectly. Formal authority, for example, enables an individual to exert influence as a result of either high, legally recognized office (legitimate authority). Informal authority is based on the individual having attributes that facilitate achievement of a group.
Apr 19, 2018 · psychology. n. the study of the mind and behavior. Historically, psychology was an area within philosophy and emerged from it (see epistemology). It is now a diverse scientific discipline comprising several major branches of research (e.g., experimental, biological, cognitive, lifespan developmental, personality, social), as well as several ...
Oct 5, 2023 · Social psychology is the scientific study of how people’s thoughts, feelings, beliefs, intentions, and goals are constructed within a social context by the actual or imagined interactions with others. It, therefore, looks at human behavior as influenced by other people and the conditions under which social behavior and feelings occur.
Understand the merits of an education in psychology. Psychology is defined as the scientific study of mind and behavior. In Greek mythology, Psyche was a mortal woman whose beauty was so great that it rivaled that of the goddess Aphrodite. Aphrodite became so jealous of Psyche that she sent her son, Eros, to make Psyche fall in love with the ...
