The Concept Of Obedience To Authority

The concept of authority within the realm of social psychology has been studied in numerous experiments. Authority is the power or right to give orders, make decisions and enforce obedience. Having authority gives power to those who may abuse it. With authority comes the controversy over ethics. Specifically in the Tuskegee, Milgram, and Stanford Prison experiments, whether the experiment was ethical or unethical came into play. The definition of ethics can be interpreted in many ways, but generally defined with principles of morality and well being of humans.

The question of ethics has been in the realm of social psychology, numerous experiments have been conducted that challenge ethical standard. One of the most notorious experiments was known as the Tuskegee Experiment. In Macon County, Alabama, there is a city called Tuskegee. The study that took place is seen today as one of the most controversial unethical health trials ever conducted. In the early 1930s, the government-funded United States Public Health Service created an experiment where natural untreated syphilis would be studied in African American men noting the effects it takes on them. Within this study 600 men were watched, 399 had the and 201 did not. Studying the natural course of syphilis may seem like ethical practice but for the Tuskegee, one, it was quite the opposite. From the beginning, the government did not have the negros’ informed consent which is illegal in our day and age. Withholding information about the study to the patients was only the start of how wrong it all was. The black men were told a lie that they would be treated for the disease and in turn would not receive treatment for 40 years. While the trials were going on, the discovery and use of penicillin to treat syphilis, however, the Tuskegee patients were denied treatment due to the study not being over. Despite the main goal of the trials being discovered, government scientists continued to let the patients suffer, dropping dead one by one. By the end of the study only 74 of the original men were alive, the others dead to the fault of the authority. Workers for the government, continued to obey because they were brainwashed by the intent of the experiment. The authority or government in this situation had the power to ignore what was humane and let innocent lives be taken.

Since the Tuskegee Experiment, numerous studies and events have taken place which has bent the rules of ethics with the power authorities have. Such events include the Stanford Prison Experiment, Milgram's Experiment, and Forensic Dentist at the United States and Mexico Border. For both Stanford Prison and Milgram’s experiment, authority played a key role. Philip G. Zimbardo was in charge of the Stanford one. In his psychological study, he took volunteers from the college who would then become either prisoners or guards. Zimbardo intended to monitor the effects of “role-playing, labeling, and social expectations on behavior over a period of two weeks”. In his make-shift prison on Stanford’s campus, he gave a quick introduction to those being tested and set the so-called “boundaries” of behavior. A key fact among this experiment was that Zimbardo himself was involved with the experiment, playing the role of Prison Superintendent. Being in your experiment is a big no-no in the world of experiments, Zimbardo was giving them authority to himself which in turn would affect those participating in the experiment. Because Zimbardo had the power, he indirectly put pressure on the guards which would lead to tyrannical behavior and traumatized prisoners had to be sent home. The guards obeyed Zimbardo, which allowed for their emotions to be released and become physically and verbally abusive. The experiment got so out of hand, that after six days it had to be stopped. The experiment was summed up to be unethical and The BBC in a documentary said it was “a study of what happens when a powerful authority figure (Zimbardo) imposes tyranny. In close relation, there was another experiment done by Stanley Milgrim which imposed authority and how the common person would obey despite the inhumane actions they were pursuing. Milgram in his study created a rigged setup where participants would believe they had a chance of becoming a teacher or student when they were only teachers. Milgram had the same issue with consent that the Tuskegee experiment had, not telling the truth to those involved. In reality, Milgrim designated the participants as teachers who would question a student (an actor), and if the student incorrectly answered they would be shocked. Every time the student got it wrong the shock intensity would go up. Little did the teachers know that it was all fake, there was no real shock but the actor would make it seem real. Many of the teachers were hesitant to continue after hearing the pain and complaints of the student but those in charge would continue to pressure them into continuing to the point of believing they had killed the student. The authority, in this case, went too far past the point of an ethical experiment. Convincing the people that they might have killed the person in no way is humane. Within these two experiments, the conflict of interest remains with why people obey authority, even to the point of abuse to others as well as themselves. The issue of obedience to authority can be divided into different reasonings, they include obedience to self-justification, blaming others, and rebelling. However, these two studies proved those who rebelled were the minority. Most went along with the study despite their moral reasoning and intelligence. The authority had the power that surpassed the ethical judgment of those involved.

From obedience to authority within the Milgrim and Stanford Prison experiments, there remains an issue to this day. Authority still uses their power to conduct unethical practice. Quite recently, there has been “unethical behavior of forensic dentist at our southern border”. Doctors are professionals who everyday Americans trust that they will do what is in the best interest of others. However, this is not true when the abuse licenses and authority gave. On the US and Mexico border, immigration authorities distinguish the age of immigrants who have crossed over illegally. The children while held in custody receive dental care. Many teens receive X-rays to determine their age. However, the X-Rays can only determine age up to a certain percentage with confidence. With some uncertainty the government and dentist cannot tell the difference between 17 and 18, this is a major issue because a person who is 17 is not an adult who can be arrested while if they are 18 they can be. This situation has created false age confirmations leading to underaged adolescents being charged. The government uses the same ways of power to pressure the dentists into wrongfully or mistakenly determining immigrant's ages. Also, the use of radiation for nonmedical reasons is the definition of unethical. All it is doing is harming the children by exposing them to unnecessary radiation and the dentists are going along with it. Obedience to authority is the reason for this unethical practice, just like the Tuskegee, Stanford Prison, and Milgrim experiments. The key idea of power and pressure create these unethical events. If it was not for the power authority had, none of these events would have reached the extreme they are considered to be. Therefore obedience to authority is what creates these unethical practices.