Third, identifying with a certain group did not automatically mean that they accepted their role. In contrast it strengthens them to unite and resist. In the early stages of the study the identification within a group sought a more united approach to resist the guards. As the study went further on there was a forming of hierarchy within the groups and with creative leadership, and a strong following for those who believe in their leader. The behavior shown in the study is very similar if not like the Nazi tyranny. Within the Nazi system was a hierarchy much like the groups of prisoners within the experiment. Like the Nazi system people know what they are doing and they only agree to do what the authoritarians say if they feel it is right.
From this I learned the different experiments conducted being the Milgram’s Experiment, The Stanford Prison, and the BBC Experiment to prove different consensus. I learned that the Milgram and Stanford Prison Experiment were made to prove that people do whatever authoritarians tell them to do, no matter how malevolent it may be. I also learned that this conclusion conducted from the two experiments can be contradicted because when its consensus was related to a real event it was proven wrong. Through which in the end it was proved that it is an individual’s choice to follow what the authoritarian says is based off their belief of whether or not they believe what the authoritarian is doing is right.
I do agree that “individuals’ willingness to follow authorities is conditional on identification with the authority in question and an associated belief that the authority is right” because while it was proved in both of the experiments. In the Stanford experiment, even though the guards were told how they were expected to act they were mostly acting upon the prisoners and not because of what the authorities told them to enact upon. I also agree because when related to events like in the holocaust. Eichmann was an example that proved that he was not just going by what his superiors told him to do, but because he believed they were doing the right thing for the Nazi cause to advance and when he felt that they weren’t, he resisted. The only part I disagree in with the Stanford Prison and Milgram Experiment, is how the volunteers were treated. I believe it is unethical and essentially inhumane to use people the way they were treated, they are scarred, abused, both mentally and physically, and some have even reported to have depressional issues after the studies. Even though, they may have voluntarily sought to be apart of the experiments, the conductors of the studies should have seeked an alternative path prior to the experiment commencing. That way the volunteers aren’t as intensely affected afterwards in the same regards to the Stanford Prison Experiment and the Milgram Experiment.
In conclusion to Contesting ”Nature” Of Conformity: What Milgram and Zimbardo’s Studies Really Show”, the projections and predictions of the outcome from the experiments were not anticipated from what the results actually showed. The Milgram and Zimbardo studies concluded that an individual will fall into obedience from an authority as long as the one under submission believes that the superior is right.
