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Psy270

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Obedience

PSY/285

Carol Watson
Obedience

Upon first viewing the video, I was shocked to see that the person would continue with the study while the other person cried out in anguish. I it to be disturbing that the person would comply with the orders despite the other person’s obvious pain. The presence of the authority figure is the determining factor when it comes how obedient a person will be. The study shows that people were more obedient when the instructor was close by then when giving orders from a distance (Myers, 2012, p. 164). The legitimacy of the authority figure also plays a part in obedience, as people will follow orders of the actual order giver better than they would with the orders given by someone filling in (Myers, 2012, p. 164). We can see examples of this in the medical field, as nurses follow the orders given by doctors in absolute confidence (Myers, 2012, p. 165). A personal example that I see of this is in the administration side of the addiction field. There will often be people in obvious need of help but will be turn away by an admissions specialists for various reasons at the request of the admissions director. Authority affects obedience in everyday life by causing people to commit acts they do not agree with simply because they are following the orders of their superior as part of the job description. When external influences override inner convictions, people will do something against their personal ethics because the pressure of the authority fail to allow attitudes to determine behavior (Myers, 2012, p. 166). The pressure to conform to the wants of authority will cause people to put aside their personal ethics in order to satisfy what has been asked of them.

References
Myers, D. G. (2012). Exploring social psychology (6th ed.). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill.

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