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Authority

We all know how hard it is at times to follow through on every if not most of the things someone of higher authority demanded that we do. Sometimes we do these things even if it’s not what we may have believed in. Why then do we do it anyway? Imagine being told that you have to send 100’s of volts of shocks though a person’s body. What do you do? Even though their may not be a right or wrong answer theirs a lot of reasons why we obey authority.

In some way I really understood the whole idea that we as human been always seem to obey those of higher power and see the reason why sometimes we don’t, after reading “Some Conditions of Obedience And Disobedience To Authority” by Stanley Milgram.

In an experiment that Milgram and his team put together they had a group of men ranging from age 20-50. These men were put in a room and were giving instructions by someone that they do not even see at a point. They were told to ask questions to another person who was tied to a shock machine and for every wrong question the watts of volt would increase. What these men did not know was that the person they were suppose to be shocking was actually an actor working for Milgram. As this experiment concluded Milgram and his team found out that m

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In my own experience the “high authority” that I have been under are my professors and my parents. As a young child I was brought up in a very strict Hindu family.

There are plenty of reasons why we do as we are told by any one with power.

From what I read from both of these short essays the authors feels that it is not very much possible for resistance of someone of high authority or someone that has power of you. And it is not just the time we are living in, it goes all the way back into time. Even though he was a police officer and had more power then the common people, the officer felt that they people made him kill the elephant. When I was told to be a certain way or certain things I could not ask questions, I had to do as I was told. Is it because you things its right or because someone else things its right? Authority can be found in any form, mine was found in my parent. I was taught to always repect the elders, carry my slef in a proper way and always be respectful to what my parents tell me.

I have very mix feelings on this subject because I think we do have it in us to say no to someone of power, however it is also possible that we do not have much free will with authority, because we are raised to obey society and feel as if it is the right thing to do just because it was what we were taught. The next time your put in a bad situation to make decision think of the reason why you say yes or no, or why you feel like you are doing the right thing or not. However, now we have a little more in us to say no.

One of the reason why Milgram thought that they did as they were told was because the experiment was done at Yale University and so some of these men felt it was safe being that Yale is such a prestigious school. He also felt that another reason why some of them continue to shock the “victim” was because, “When a person is unconfortable, tense, or stressed, he tries to take some action that will allow him to terminate this unpleasant state” ( Page 414). ost of the men did what they were told even though they did not wanted too.

Approximate Word count = 890
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

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