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