Chapter 1:
The first chapter is on a brief discussion of obedience. Several examples of people doing wrong things because they were told by an authority figure or force were mentioned; most notably, Nazi Germany and the Holocaust.
Chapter 2:
This chapter was about a setting up an obedience experiment in Yale. An actor was hired to portray the learner. An experimenter was one of the people running the experiment, while the teacher was the subject to be studied.
Chapter 3:
The expected results for the experiment were that many/most people would disobey at around 150 volts or when the learner expresses his "pain".
Chapter 4:
Alternate experiments were run where how close the teacher was to the learner was altered. It shows that when the teacher is closer to the learner, the teacher is more likely to disobey or will disobey sooner than if the learner was in a separate room.
Chapter 5:
This chapter shows what some of the subjects were thinking during and after the experiment. Many of the subjects showed great concern for the learner but continued to the maximum voltage (450 volts) despite many outcries by the learner.
Chapter 6:
Many more variations of the experiment were performed. Such variations included changing the experimenter to a different person, changing the settings, choosing female teachers, and even allowing the teacher to set the shock value.
Chapter 7:
In this chapter are more thoughts by the teachers. These teachers are part of the variation experiments. Many of them would still show great concern for the leaner but still continue to shock them.
Chapter 8:
More variations of the experiment were performed. This time however, it was about roles. These experiments demonstrated the differences when different people were in different roles such as the experimenter is the one being shocked while an ordinary person is ordering the shocks. This also included having 2 experimenters, one giving the order to shock the learner while the other says not to.
Chapter 9:
This chapter shows the power of numbers in people. When the teacher has multiple teachers beside him, it is easier to do what the "group" says. It's an almost voluntary action.
Chapter 10:
This chapter is more about the topics related to or part of obedience such as hierarchy and agentic state. Hierarchy promotes obedience because someone up higher is prescribing the action or task to a lower individual.
Chapter 11:
The main focuses here were about antecedent conditions of obedience, the agentic state, and binding factors. Things such as family, rewards, and setting are part of the antecedent conditions in obedience. The agentic state is where a person becomes someone else, an "agent" for an authority figure or force. Binding factors are what keep a person obeying.
Chapter 12:
Strain is the force that can cause a person to disobey. The strain has to outweigh the strain-resolving methods or techniques. If a person experienced no strain with shocking a person, then they will continue to shock a person until they are told to stop. With strain, a person will want to quit or disobey however, there are ways to resolve the strain such as being able to not assume responsibility or reassurance that nothing bad will happen.
Chapter 13:
Aggression is an impulse or action to harm another organism. It's possible that some people were able to continue to administer shocks due to their aggression.
Chapter 14:
Many problems and concerns arise with this experiment. Some wonder if the test subjects were enough to represent the general population. Another concern was if the teachers did not know or did know if they were actually causing harm to the learner. Finally, can the experiments results reflect in the wider social life?
Chapter 15:
War seems to be a target when discussing obedience. This is because many people are told to kill another individual all the time by an authority figure. Killing another person is usually not a desire in all of us. Yet many people still do it when they are told. The study of obedience can give us a better idea as to why atrocities occur simply because people are following orders.
Book Response:
This book was fairly interesting. It's scary almost to see that many people are capable of harming other individuals when they are told to do so. Yet, it is also interesting or fascinating to see people change or for people to become almost machines and perform tasks that they are not comfortable with when told by an authority figure.
The differences in proximity between the teacher, the learner, and the experimenter proved to be the most interesting to me. This makes me wonder if the military will reach a point where the generals are with the soldiers to ensure the soldiers carry out their orders.
The results from using multiple people and from alternating the roles is also fascinating. People are eager to disobey when a lot of strain is present but may still continue. Things such as a conflicting authority figure can make it easier for an individual to disobey.
With the appearance of 2 experimenters, it makes me wonder if there should be more co-levels in society. Having 2 people give an order gives more reassurance that it is the right thing to do. Having conflicting orders can lead to the subject to decide.
This experiment is interesting and I would be interesting in seeing more obedience based experiments. Given today's technology, many more variations of the experiments can be performed.
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