• How far would people go in obeying an instruction if it involved harming another person?
• Learner was given increasingly stronger shocks when they made mistakes
  • Were giving mostly wrong answers
  • If teacher refused, experimenter was given orders to insure they continued
  • 65% of participants continued to highest level, all continued to 300 volts
  • Likely to follow orders because of formality and behavior of experiementer, and they had volunteered and been paid
    • When it was a person not in lab coat, obedience dropped
    • When it was in rundown offices, obedience dropped
  • Obedience to authority is ingrained in all of us → obey orders from other people if they recognize their authority as morally right and/or legally based
  • Authority will accept responsibility for what happens
  • Less personal responsibility, obedience increases
  • Presence of others that are seend to disobey, reduces obedience level