Video: Obedience (1962), Released by Alexander Street Press - Essay Example

December Obedience Theory The “Obedience” video discusses how people teach and learn. This video suggests that the power of managers and leaders might be more effective if they used punishment if someone beneath them did something wrong. The experimenter was to be authoritative. Then the other roles were the learner and the teacher. The experimenter told the teacher what to do and then the learner must then receive the information. However, as the subjects were both given the slip of paper that said teacher and they were in two separate rooms, they were not aware of the arrangement made by the experimenter.

Both received an example of electroshock that the learner was supposed to have received during the experiment if they pushed the buttons to answer questions correctly. If the question was answered incorrectly, the learner supposedly would receive a shock. Both of the people that were subjects thought the learner was receiving electric shocks but neither were actually receiving shocks because there was no learner. Voltage allegedly would go up as punishment. This made the teacher a bit apprehensive and worrying whether or not they would be giving a high voltage shock of punishment to their learner and it made many uncomfortable to do so.

Managers and leaders have power to punish those below them in order to cause others to do what they want them to do. However, there may be a threshold that a manager or leader reaches that causes them to not reprimand someone below them. It could cause damage of some sort and lead to stress for the individual who is inferior. Managers and leaders can punish people but to the point of being cruel. They must be responsible and ethical in regards to their followers. At times, followers may be apprehensive to disobey their manager or leader for fear of punishment, depending on the severity.

Stanly Milgram used money as a source of power in order to get people to participate. He stood while he instructed his subjects what they were doing which can be intimidating. Also, since he was running the experiment and the people were unaware of what they were going to be doing, it is evident that he was a bit of an intimidator. Since they did not know what they would be doing, they all followed his instructions so they basically, were all learners at some point. He was authoritative in nature yet when someone hears the words “electrode” and “blister” or “burn” used in an experiment, it could be horrifying to the subject if they are nervous, especially when the learner had a heart condition.

This could completely cause his mind to think about other things and worry more the punishment than focus on the learning aspect of the experiment. It is more as if the subjects could be fearful of the punishment but were also distracted. Milgram possesses a power over two subjects that both believe they are hurting another while he is completely aware that none are doing any harm. He even disregards the participant with the heart condition. Some of the ways he was influential could be in his appearance alone.

His white coat was symbolic of a doctor or researcher, which gave him power. Then he had the experiment planned out in such a way that manipulated the way the teacher thought about the learner. These tactics were very effective because he had his white coat, the man with the heart condition believed he was not at risk because Milgram said so.In the film, 40 male subjects from the ages of 20 and 50 years old. An advertisement in a newspaper and direct mailers, to see how they learned. The subjects varied in their occupations and education levels.

If the subject was repeated today, the results would differ greatly because this is a small targeted range of people. The study was conducted at Yale University. This is a prestigious and sometimes even intimidating campus to participate in a study. Only men that would have responded to participate would be those that read the newspaper and those who responded to direct mailers. Many people today do not read the newspaper unless it is an online version and direct mailers are often tossed in the trash.

A more random selection would be more likely if the experiment were performed today. I think the subjects would need to be broader and incorporate both males and females as women are often leaders in today’s society. Also, men and women of all ages learn and perform in different ways. If the experiment were to be repeated, it should spread over a broader age range. The role that women have on leadership and management has a significant impact on how these results would be influenced. I think many variables would actually be impacted and could create a completely different outcome on this psychological study if it were redone today, using a more broad and randomly selected study of people who do not just reside in one city.

People from the Midwest, Northeast and Southwest all have different attitudes which are impacted by their culture. This could completely alter the differences found in the experiment’s results.