Compliance can be influenced by how the victim is defined
Compliance can be influence to the degree that the victim is abstract, and predictably, compliance is also decreased when the victim is individuated. However, donât let the authority individuate victims for you. In one classic Milgram-esque study, the scientists would âaccidentallyâ allow a teacher to overhear their opinion of the learner. âSeems like a nice guyâ versus âThis guy seems like an animal.â Guess whoâd get more shocks?
Authorities rarely ask us to administer shocks to those whom they label as nice guys. Itâs always to the animals. Implicit in the latter categorizationâs evoking more compliance is our having ceded power to the authorities or to the group to create the narrative. One of the greatest wellsprings of resistance is to seize back the narrative. From âchildren of exceptionalitiesâ to the Paralympics, from gay-pride marches to ânever again,â from Hispanic Heritage Month to James Brown singing, âSay It Out Loud, Iâm Black and Iâm Proud,â a major step toward victimsâ resistance is to gain the power to define themselves.
References
- Sapolsky, Robert. (2017). Behave Chapter 12. Hierarchy, Obedience, and Resistance (p. 538). New York, NY: Penguin Random House.
Metadata
Type:đ´ Tags: Psychology / Social Psychology Status:âď¸