Perils Of Obedience

Words: 1466
Pages: 6

Why Don't People Always Do the Right Thing?
Its often the norm for many people to observe and be aware of the chaos going on around them,and yet many people still continue to go about their daily lives without having empathy for the humans who are going through crisis. Most people usually don't think about the chaos going on around them because they most likely think it will never happen to them. Although many people lack empathy this is not the only reason why people may not help when they notice the chaos going on around them and help someone in need. People often don’t do the right thing in a time of crisis when it comes to obeying the authority; being afraid; having the “it isn’t my problem” mindset; or because of the inability to notice
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We have seen many cases in which this has occurred. We see it in the news everyday in which we see brutality or a violent situation in which if someone had helped, that event may not have been as bad as it was. The people who obey the authority no matter what may feel it is wrong to disobey them no matter the situation they see is occurring or perhaps even a situation that is happening to them. In an article, “The Perils of Obedience,” by Stanley Milgram a social psychologist, argues even that people will listen to their authority even if it means they have to hurt others. In the article Milgram talks about an experiment that was conducted in which their was the experimenter, the teacher, and the learner. The experiment was to be conducted as the teacher would ask the learner questions and if the learner got the question wrong they would receive a shock; however every time the learner got the question wrong the level of shock would be higher each time. Although at some point during the experiment the level of shock would “hurt” the learner and he would complain how his heart hurts and he can't take the shocks. The teacher would want to stop and ask the experimenter if he they could stop and check on the learner but the the