Whether people conform to authority is influenced by prestige, proximity, legitimacy, and stability
Stanley Milgram had shown that people would continue to shock someone who missed an answer to a question to deadly levels if ordered to by authority. Milgram follow-ups showed that when the authority (i.e., the scientist) was in a different room, compliance decreased. Does the authority come cloaked in prestige? When the experiment was conducted in some nondescript warehouse in New Haven, instead of on the Yale campus, compliance declined. And, as emphasized by Tajfel in his writing, is the authority perceived as legitimate and stable? Iād more likely comply with, say, lifestyle advice issued by the Dalai Lama than by the head of Boko Haram.
References
- Sapolsky, Robert. (2017). Behave Chapter 12. Hierarchy, Obedience, and Resistance (p. 534). New York, NY: Penguin Random House.
Metadata
Type:š“ Tags: Psychology / Social Psychology Status:āļø