Full Blog For "Obedience to Authority"

Summary:
This book describes a series of experiments and results about obedience done by Stanley Milgram.

The first couple chapters of the book discuss what it means to be obedient and disobedient. After these are established it is noted how people THINK they would react to the experiments that are about to happen. Most people view themselves in favorable light and don't see themselves being extremely obedient in a stressful environment.

The first half of the book after what was described above is about the experiments and results done by Milgram. Many experiments are done but the parameters are changed many times.

The experiment is done by having a learner, subject, and instructor. The way these three interact is different based on the parameters but the basis is that subject must shock the learner when the instructor tells them too.

The experiments deal with variables that may affect obedience. The first one tested is closeness to the victim. This is tested by allowing the subject to hear the learner's cries but they cannot see each other. From this it was shown that most people were obedient till the end. The experiment continued to bring the learner closer to the subject. The results showed that the closer the learner was the more disobedient the subject was. The experiment location was then changed to see if the results were unique to the original location. The results showed the results were the same for both areas using different subjects. Other variables were changed such as, the attitude and appearance of the instructor were changed which showed that it didn't really matter. Orders were given over the phone which showed people were more obedient when orders were given in person. Results with men and women were about the same. The role between learner and experimenter was switched which caused people to be disobedient. Having two instructors with different orders caused the subjects to hesitate. Having one instructor give orders and another instructor be the learner also caused hesitation.

The second half of the book discusses the psychology and reasons why obedience exists. The idea of people needing to be in a hierarchical society and how it functions is discussed. The different states of mind are discussed. When people are obedient they are in an anatomical state of mind and when they begin to disobey they enter the agentic state. Different things can cause people to alter states such as one's family.

These experiments deal mainly with the subject being aggressive. This causes strain on the subject and can cause disobedience. It was noted that the behavior of the subjects was with the obedient relationship with the instructor and not from anger.

The experiments criticism was then discussed and address. These questions include the subjects used in the experiment, if the subjects knew they were actually shocking the learner, and does the laboratory background have an effect on the results.

Discussion:
After reading the chapter about Milgrim in "Opening Skinner's Box" it was really interesting to read more details about the experiment and the results. I really liked reading about the experiments and the altered parameters each time but not so much the psychology behind it. However, I think it is very important to read about the psychology that comes from these results in the second half of the book because it helps answer the questions dealing with why people obey when they do and why they disobey when they do.