Psy/285 Week 4 Checkpoint 1

I am personally disgusted by this study. It makes me sick to see that people were getting shocked for the wrong answer. It is inhumane and horrifying. In the video, you heard a man stating that his heart was bothering him, and the respondent looked at the administrator and said “I will not be responsible for this” and continued on.

Many subjects gave hesitation to giving the shocks, but with the administrator there, they obeyed, and gave the highest shock, which was 450 volts. It is sad that so many people followed directions to shock another person even thought they were complaining about the pain. Although, the administrator was reassuring them that they were fine, and things were ok.

Today, authority affects obedience in everyday life such as a person’s job. At work, we have different levels of authority. With these different levels, we have different responsibilities, and different levels of respect. For instance, a person who has no authority has a level of respect for their immediate supervisor, though that level may be low; their level of respect for the owner of the company will be higher, because that person is higher up in management.

I believe that many people do things against their ethics when authority asks, simply because they either have to do it to keep their jobs, or because they think they will get into trouble if they don’t. A lot of people, more than one would think, are followers and not leaders. This means that they will follow what others do, or do what others ask them to do to feel accepted, or normal. A leader, on the other hand, will decide for themselves, and if it is morally or ethically wrong, they will decide not to do the item requested because of their values in