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Related Concept Videos

Milgram's Obedience to Authority02:20

Milgram's Obedience to Authority

Obedience to authority is classically demonstrated in a more famous series of social psychology experiments performed by Stanley Milgram. He was a social psychology professor at Yale who was influenced by the trial of Adolf Eichmann, a Nazi war criminal. Eichmann’s defense for the atrocities he committed was that he was “just following orders.”
Obedience01:08

Obedience

According to obedience research, we may harm others under the forceful pressures of an authority figure (Milgram, 1974). How about if the inappropriate orders were delivered with less force? The increasing interdependence between nurses and physicians compelled Hofling and his colleagues to explore nurses’ reactions to a potentially harmful medical request made by the perceived authority figure, the doctor (Hofling, Brotzman, Dalrymple, Graves, & Pierce, 1966). In this situation, obedience...
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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 13, 2026

Exploring the Role of Deontic Reasoning and World Knowledge in Wason´s Selection Task
06:08

Exploring the Role of Deontic Reasoning and World Knowledge in Wason´s Selection Task

Published on: July 22, 2025

Defying Unjust Authority: An Exploratory Study.

Piero Bocchiaro, Philip G Zimbardo

    Current Psychology (New Brunswick, N.J.)
    |May 13, 2010
    PubMed
    Summary

    Most participants disobeyed unjust authority when the teacher was near the learner and the authority was remote. This study examined psychological factors predicting defiant behavior.

    Area of Science:

    • Social Psychology
    • Obedience Studies

    Background:

    • The Utrecht Studies on Obedience provided a foundational paradigm for examining compliance with authority.
    • Prior research indicates specific conditions can increase disobedience.

    Purpose of the Study:

    • To explore psychological factors influencing disobedience to unjust authority.
    • To understand cognitive and affective predictors of defiant behavior.

    Main Methods:

    • A modified obedience paradigm involving escalating hostile comments.
    • Manipulating teacher-learner proximity and authority remoteness.
    • Utilizing behavioral observations, individual difference assessments, and post-experimental interviews.

    Main Results:

    • 30% of participants obeyed commands to deliver hostile comments.

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    An Experimental Analysis of Children's Ability to Provide a False Report about a Crime
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    Published on: May 3, 2016

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    Exploring the Role of Deontic Reasoning and World Knowledge in Wason´s Selection Task

    Published on: July 22, 2025

    An Experimental Analysis of Children's Ability to Provide a False Report about a Crime
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    An Experimental Analysis of Children's Ability to Provide a False Report about a Crime

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  • The majority of participants refused to obey at some point in the sequence.
  • Conditions of proximity and remote authority increased disobedience.

    • Conclusions:

    • Psychological factors significantly influence the decision to disobey unjust authority.
    • Defiant behavior can be predicted by cognitive and affective processes.
    • Environmental factors like proximity and authority distance play a crucial role in obedience/disobedience.