Milgram, Asch, And Zimbardo Study

Per the textbook, conformity is defined as people’s tendencies to behave consistently with social norms. Many people want to feel as though they belong to the in-group, so they are unwilling to stand against the majority opinion. Several famous studies have looked at different aspects of conformity and how subjects respond to certain situations. The results of the Milgram, Asch, and Zimbardo studies can teach us to avoid abuses of power in the future. The first study discussed was conducted by Stanley Milgram, and it looked at how far a participant would go in hurting another human when told to do so by the researcher in charge. Sometimes subjects gave what was supposed to be a potentially lethal jolt of electricity when told to by the researcher. The lesson that can be gained from this experiment is that people will follow directions given by superiors even if they think it could cause injury or death. We
All the case studies include elements that can be compared to the Nazi takeover. If society had realized how easily humans can be forced to injure or kill others, as is suggested by the Milgram study, maybe some of the upstanding citizens would have tried to stop the Nazi’s. The Zimbardo study taught us that everyone has the power to be a tyrant. Finally, if the Nazi mentality had been counteracted by people with dissenting opinions, as in the Asch study, perhaps the minority would have spoken up sooner and avoided a Nazi massacre of the Jews. Instead, slowly and inexorably, the Nazi mentality spread through Europe and became a main stream idea that everyone had to conform to or risk death. The lesson here is that we must speak up early and not simply try to be part of the in-group or we risk another global catastrophe if what we are conforming to is detrimental instead of