Chapter 10:Behavior in Social & Cultural Context Section 1: Roles & Rules “We cannot live for...
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Transcript of Chapter 10:Behavior in Social & Cultural Context Section 1: Roles & Rules “We cannot live for...
Chapter 10:Behavior in Social & Cultural Context
Section 1: Roles & Rules“We cannot live for ourselves alone.”
Herman Melville
• Norms- rules about how we are supposed to act, enforced by threats of punishment if we violate them & promises of reward if we follow them–They’re conventions of everyday life
that make interactions with other people predictable & orderly
• Roles- positions that are regulated by norms about how people in those positions should behave–Gender roles, occupational roles, family
roles–Certain aspects of every role must be
carried out or there will be penalties- emotional, financial, or professional
• When you violate a role requirement, intentionally or unintentionally, you will feel uncomfortable or other people will try to make you feel uncomfortable
The Obedience Study
• Stanley Milgram & coworkers investigated whether people would follow orders, even when the order violated their ethical standards.–Participants thought they were part of an
experiment on the effects of punishment on learning–“teacher” & “learner” were randomly
assigned
• When the learner, who was seated in another room made an error, the teacher was to give him an electric shock• With each error, the voltage was to
increase • Learners didn’t receive shocks, pretend to
shout in pain
Myers in Modules, Module 54
Milgram’s Obedience Experiment
• Most people were administered at least a slight shock• Every participant complied with at
least some order to shock another person.
• Several variations produced similar results & virtually nothing the victim said or did changed the likelihood of compliance
• People were more likely to disobey under the following conditions:–When the experimenter left the room–When the victim was right there in the
room–When 2 experimenters issued
conflicting demands to continue or stop
• When the person ordering them to continue was an “ordinary” man• When the subject worked with peers
who refused to go further
• Milgram concluded that obedience was more of a function of the situation, than of the particular personalities of the participants• Results are controversial and have
generated much research on violence and obedience.
• Criticisms–Unethical because people were
kept in the dark about what was really happening & many suffered emotional pain
The Prison Study
• Stanford Prison Study–Wanted to know what would happen if
ordinary college students were randomly assigned roles as prisoners & guards–Students agreed to live in the “prison”
for 2 weeks
The results
• Prisoners became distressed, helpless, & panicky –Developed emotional symptoms &
physical ailments–Some become apathetic, others
rebellious
• Guards began enjoying their new power–About 1/3 became tyrannical–Study was ended after 6 days
Update on the Experiments
Why People Obey
• Obedience to authority or to the norms of a situation is not always bad or harmful• A certain amount of routine compliance
with roles is necessary in any group• Obedience to authority has many benefits
for individuals & society–Traffic signals, taxes, assault, etc
• Most people follow orders because of the obvious consequences of disobedience–Suspension, fired, or arrested
• Hope to gain being liked, advantages or promotions, or learning from the authority
What causes people to obey when they would rather not?
• Allocating responsibility to the authority–Absolving themselves of accountability
for their actions• Routinizing the task–Behavior starts to feel normal–Used by the Nazis to commit genocide
• Wanting to be polite–Don’t want to be rude because they
know they will be disliked for doing so• Becoming entrapped–A gradual process in which individuals
escalate their commitment to a course of action to justify their investment of time, money, or effort.–War