There are still people in this world, conditioned by the fake moral percepts they are injected with early in childhood, who believe “people would not go that far to harm others”. This is a baseless idea generated by a value system that is merely taught but is barely practiced. This idea is also authoritarian and is thus contradictory in its very nature. That is, it is not something that you are born with, but is something that you are instructed to. Because of this it is as easy to replace and modify your beliefs in the same manner. Both instances of assertion and denial prove the presence of a strong system of authority. This is one factor that is present –authority.
There have been several experiments conducted on “obedience to authority” that proves this matter beyond any question of doubt. All of these experiments were done with the educated segments of society. The results are terrifying to say the least. The first of these experiments that comes to mind is the one conducted by conducted by Dr. Stanley Milgram, a psychologist at Yale University in the 1960’s. It came in the wake of the trail and execution of a Nazi officer for war crimes. The subject of the study was obedience to authority versus personal conscience. In the trail of the Nazi officers the perpetrators defense was that they were innocent since they were only obeying orders. We might think this line of argument would not hold water. But those under trial honestly and firmly held on to it till the very end. They went to the execution block still believing that they were innocent. This appear strange to us, the outsiders, but we are in for a shocking surprise. Milgram’s study proved it beyond any reasonable doubt that this is possible. Any heinous deed would be committed by an educated and intelligent individual if it is approved and sanctioned by the authority although it is against the very beliefs ingrained in the individual concerned. The study was published in 1970’s under the title” Obedience to Authority: An Experimental View" (1974).
The study was formulated like this: An ad was placed in papers inviting participants for a study on human psychology for a nominal payment for their time. The selected participants were all college graduates. They would be designated as “Teachers”. Their job was to teach a student on a subject given to them. If the student makes a mistake they are to operate a control panel containing electrical switches ranging from 15 volts to 450 volts on an incremental basis of 15 volts per switch which would pass electricity into the body of the student. The selected teachers were first introduced to the student and both were given a minor dose of electrical shock to make them fully aware of the reality of the experiment. The teacher and the student were placed in different rooms. An examiner was present with the teacher at all times during the experiment. This man was chosen for the job. He would maintain a stern countenance all the time during the experiment and would exhibit unflinching authority. Unaware to the “teachers” the student was also picked for the purpose. He was a good actor who could fake a whole range of emotions believably. He was not wired as he was supposed to and by reading the level of electric shock in a monitor he was asked to mimic the torment of persons in such situation.
Before conducting the experiments a cross section of the public including psychiatrists were approached for their views on the level to which the candidates would go if told to. None believed that normal people would go any where near allowing the maximum level of electrical shock to be applied on the other person. The psychiatrists prophesied that only people with sociopathic tendencies would reach 300 volt level in the experiments and only a few among them would go all the way.
The results proved them all wrong. 65 % of those selected went all the way. They were troubled by the cries and other protestations by the victim and turned to the experimenter for help every time, but when assured that he would assume full responsibility, were ready to give the other guy the maximum. The same experiment was conducted under varying conditions. The awe inspiring settings of the lab were removed and the experiment was conducted in a public auditorium. There was a slight decrease in compliance. But it was only when the experimenter was totally removed from the scene that the results dropped to the level of 2%. Substitution of the experimenter’s presence with his voice over phone was also not successful. Following this, there were innumerable experiments of such nature all over the civilized world and all yielded the same results.
This proves that human beings could be manipulated by an exhibition of authority (real or faked) to commit any number of heinous things if they are assured of being relieved of responsibility. Note that it only needs assurance and not any real proof of its evidence. For, any of the volunteers could have asked to see documents or legal evidence giving the other man permission to play with the life of a human being. The victim was not an offender of society and was a well behaved and pleasant man. Note also that most of them were prepared to go all the way considering the nominal amount they would be offered in return. So it is not a case where you had to do certain horrible things to make a whole lot of money. This is another consideration too. What if a large sum of money was offered? The 65% percent would go up to 90 or hundred percent probably!
There have been similar experiments consisted of role playing. Those also assumed ominous character when put into action. The roles of prisoners and guards were played to perfection by the participants. Nice agreeable youngsters having a good educational background was suddenly transformed into beasts fitting the descriptions of the jobs. All this points out one thing- When a person is put in a role by the sanction of authority he/she goes out of the way to fulfill it, quite oblivious of the implications of their actions on themselves and others. A form of dissociation protects them from having any qualms of conscience.
Some of the stalking and harassment victims wonder why the perps exhibit no conscience what so ever. Learn that this is the prime reason. They are obeying authority and as long as the authority is willing to take responsibility for their deeds( even by fake assurances) they are ready to hunt you down, stalk you, train electronic weapons on you, sabotage your property and to do all the works.
You can learn more details of Milgram’s study from this link
http://www.age-of-the-sage.org/psychology/milgram_obedience_experiment.html
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