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Dec 19, 2020 · Mark Twain said it beautifully: It's never wrong to do the right thing. Personal authority does not come from unkept promises but rather by truthful actions and deeds with decent and fair purpose ...
Sep 10, 2019 · We live in a permission culture. Permission culture is the idea that, in many aspects of our lives, we feel the need or desire for someone to authorize our agency. It assumes that we need the ...
The Principles of Persuasion. The cornerstone of the psychology of persuasion is a set of six principles delineated by pioneering researcher Robert Cialdini, professor emeritus at Arizona State ...
- The psychologist Robert Cialdini developed six principles of persuasion which have been used in business schools as well as in boardrooms. They are...
- Choosing the right principle for persuasion depends on the context. In a corporate context, a brand hoping to boost sales may leverage the authorit...
- Think about the tactics that a company or person is using and try to identify any of the principles of persuasion. For example, an advertisement mi...
- People can experiment with various strategies to become more convincing. One important concept is that people are more likely to be swayed by those...
- Assertiveness is about standing up for yourself, rather than putting anyone else down. You can become more assertive by being clear and concise abo...
- Telling someone not to do something is often the best way to get them to do it—what’s colloquially referred to as “reverse psychology.” Research fi...
- Most discussions are informative and productive—but it’s also important to recognize when people’s arguments may be weak or ill-informed. There are...
- Careers today often rely on building a strong and persuasive personal brand, yet self-promotion can be uncomfortable for some people. A few tips ca...
- It can be painful to watch a loved one who is suffering but refusing to get help. To encourage someone to seek therapy, help them become aware that...
- Overview
- Obedience vs. Conformity: How They Differ
- Milgram’s Obedience Experiments
- Zimbardo’s Prison Experiment
- Factors That Impact Obedience
- Understanding the Psychology of Obedience
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Obedience is a form of social influence that involves acting on the orders of an authority figure. It often involves actions a person would not have taken unless they were directed to do so by someone of authority or influence.
To understand obedience, it is important to also understand how it differs from compliance and conformity. Compliance involves changing your behavior at the request of another person, while conformity consists in altering your behavior to go along with the rest of the group.
Obedience involves altering your behavior because an authority figure has told you to do so.
Obedience is an essential concept in psychology. The question of why people obey others, its impact on society, and the factors that impact obedience are essential in understanding social behavior and social influence. However, obedience must be distinguished from other types of social influence, including conformity.
Obedience differs from conformity in three key ways:
•Obedience involves an order; conformity involves a request.
•Obedience is obeying someone of a higher status; conformity is going along with people of equal status.
During the 1950s, a psychologist Stanley Milgram became intrigued with the conformity experiments performed by Solomon Asch. Asch's work had demonstrated that people could easily be swayed to conform to group pressure, but Milgram wanted to see just how far people would be willing to go.
The trial of Adolf Eichmann, who had planned and managed the mass deportation of Jews during World War II, helped spark Milgram’s interest in obedience.
Zimbardo's Experiment
He set up a mock prison in the basement of the Stanford University psychology department and assigned his participants to play the roles of either prisoners or guards, with Zimbardo himself acting as the prison warden. According to the researchers, the study had to be discontinued after a mere six days even though it was initially slated to last two weeks. Why did the researchers end the experiment so early? Because the participants had become so involved in their roles, the guards utilized authoritarian techniques to gain the obedience of the prisoners. The study's authors suggested that the guards even subjected the prisoners to psychological abuse, harassment, and physical torture. The results of the Stanford Prison Experiment are often used to demonstrate how easily people are influenced by characteristics of the roles and situations they are cast in, but Zimbardo also suggested that environmental factors play a role in how prone people are to obey authority.
Contemporary Criticisms
Like Milgram's experiments, Zimbardo's experiment has not fared well under more recent analysis. In addition to the long-noted ethical problems with the study, a more recent analysis of the study's methods has revealed serious issues with the experiment's design, methods, procedures, and authenticity. Participants in the study reportedly faked their responses to leave early. Others reported amplifying their behaviors to help give the experimenters the results they were looking for. Critics suggest that the study lacks scientific merit and credibility due to these notable problems with its procedures.
A variety of individual and social factors can impact the likelihood that a person will obey a leader. Some factors that might play a role include:
•Personality characteristics: Certain personality traits, including conscientiousness and agreeableness, have been linked to greater obedience to authority.
•Psychological distance: You may be more likely to engage in obedience to authority if the effects of your obedience feel distant, abstract, or unconnected to your life.
•Ambiguity or lack of information: In ambiguous situations, a person may be more likely to obey someone who seems to have more information than they do.
Recognizing the power of obedience can help shed light on why people sometimes follow the orders of an authority figure, even if it violates their own personal beliefs or morals. Helping leaders understand their power in social situations can also help them use it more effectively and responsibly.
Building this understanding may also help people better recognize abuses of power and find ways to better promote responsible, ethical behavior.
10 Sources
Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
1.Stangor C, Jhangiani R, Tarry H. Principles of Social Psychology. Victoria: BC campus Open Textbook Project; 2014.
2.American Psychological Association. Obeying and resisting malevolent orders.
Sep 14, 2024 · 1. Traditional Authority: This type of authority is based on long-established customs, habits, and social structures. Think of monarchies or religious institutions where authority is passed down through generations. People obey traditional authority because “that’s the way it’s always been done.”. 2.
Nov 15, 2023 · authority. Updated on 11/15/2023. 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 ...
Jan 17, 2017 · Employing coercive power, an authority manages behavior with strict monitoring and heavy punishment whereas by using the legitimate power approach, an authority operates through legitimacy of its position, expertise, a policy to disseminate relevant information, and its ability to make others identify with it (Andreoni et al., 1998; Braithwaite, 2009; Gangl et al., 2013, 2015).
