Obedience lite.

Abstract

Jerry M. Burger's partial replication of Stanley Milgram's (1963, 1965, 1974) classic experiments on obedience to authority is considered from the viewpoint of a contributor and witness to the original obedience experiments. Although Burger's replication succeeded in terms of gaining the approval of his local institutional review board, it did so by removing a large portion of the stressful circumstances that made Milgram's findings so psychologically interesting and so broadly applicable to instances of real-world destructive obedience. However, Burger has provided an initial demonstration that his "obedience lite" procedures can be used to extend the study of certain situational and personality variables beyond those examined by Milgram.

Personality Predicts Obedience in a Milgram Paradigm

“…Obedience studies remain a core topic in social psychology (Burger, ; Elms, ; Packer, ; Zimbardo, ). The study of individual and situational influences on obedience is important because obedience plays an integral role in socialization processes, which can facilitate social order (Hogan, Curphy, & Hogan, ) or, conversely, lead to tragic social ills (Kelman & Hamilton, ; Staub, ).…”

What Makes a Person a Perpetrator? The Intellectual, Moral, and Methodological Arguments for Revisiting Milgram's Research on the Influence of Authority

“…Over the years, scholars have developed a series of ingenious ways to look at harm doing. These included such things as providing destructive feedback to job applicants (Meeus & Raajmakers, ), (apparently) feeding bugs into a crushing machine (Martens, Kosloff, Greenberg, Landau, & Schmader, ), eating noxious foods (Kudrika, , cited in Elms, ), and being subjected to boring stimuli (Navarick, ). However, within the last decade, two rather different approaches have been developed which stand out both for their actual and potential impact on the literature.…”

“…Alan Elms, Milgramʼs assistant in the original studies, is typical in this regard. He states: “(d)espite my substantial reservations about Burgerʼs … initial findings, I am pleased that he has been able to revive the possibility of conducting research on obedience to authority somewhat along the lines that Milgram initiated” (Elms, , p. 35).…”

Obedience and Evil: From Milgram and Kampuchea to Normal Organizations

“…as expert in obedience (Jacques, 1996). A recent partial replication of Milgram's experiment [see Burger (2009) andElms (2009) for criticism] indicates that obedience to authority may still be a prevalent phenomenon, a finding that suggests that the topic is as important today as it was when Milgram decided to investigate it. Followers frequently commit ''Crimes of obedience'' (Kellerman, 2004;Kelman and Hamilton, 1989) even in ''normal'' organizations.…”