- 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