Authority’s Influence on Ethics
Stanley Morgan a psychologist in the early 1960s had some very important Questions, and some answers that shocked America. His major question was what psychological conditions allowed normal people to act without morals? His experiments were conceived from the mystery behind the Nazis ability to persuade the German people into the massacre of the Jews. Under what conditions were normal people capable of breaking their own ethics willingly? This is what Stanley Morgan wished to unearth.
In 1961 Dr. Stanley Morgan began his experiments called The Obedience Study. This study was developed to try and shed some light on some of Dr. Morgan’s biggest questions. His experiment was designed to show how a normal individual would be capable of willingly breaking his own moral and ethical code. Dr. Morgan wanted to understand under what conditions of authority an individual would be willing to commit acts they would normally never do. His experiment was relatively simple, yet extremely ingenious. He took two individuals and gave them a role. One would be the teacher and the other the student. The student would answer questions and if he answered incorrectly the teacher would administer a shock of electricity, and with …show more content…
Milgram conducted shocked America with its findings, it was a major discovery in the field of human psychology. It revealed human’s natural instinct to be obedient and provided a view into how people can be so cruel and inhumane. It also showed how a group of men’s actions could be controlled with simple psychological manipulations. His tests showed that people are more likely to cross moral and ethical lines when they feel like they are not responsible for the outcome. Authority figures for example telling them that it’s okay and pushing them. This tends to cause the individual to become stressed and confused, and leading them to become more obedient to this Authority than to their own
Stanley Morgan a psychologist in the early 1960s had some very important Questions, and some answers that shocked America. His major question was what psychological conditions allowed normal people to act without morals? His experiments were conceived from the mystery behind the Nazis ability to persuade the German people into the massacre of the Jews. Under what conditions were normal people capable of breaking their own ethics willingly? This is what Stanley Morgan wished to unearth.
In 1961 Dr. Stanley Morgan began his experiments called The Obedience Study. This study was developed to try and shed some light on some of Dr. Morgan’s biggest questions. His experiment was designed to show how a normal individual would be capable of willingly breaking his own moral and ethical code. Dr. Morgan wanted to understand under what conditions of authority an individual would be willing to commit acts they would normally never do. His experiment was relatively simple, yet extremely ingenious. He took two individuals and gave them a role. One would be the teacher and the other the student. The student would answer questions and if he answered incorrectly the teacher would administer a shock of electricity, and with …show more content…
Milgram conducted shocked America with its findings, it was a major discovery in the field of human psychology. It revealed human’s natural instinct to be obedient and provided a view into how people can be so cruel and inhumane. It also showed how a group of men’s actions could be controlled with simple psychological manipulations. His tests showed that people are more likely to cross moral and ethical lines when they feel like they are not responsible for the outcome. Authority figures for example telling them that it’s okay and pushing them. This tends to cause the individual to become stressed and confused, and leading them to become more obedient to this Authority than to their own