In Societies which accept the need for mass surveillance, or allow it to spread through non-action and compliance, are societies which become increasingly unable to resist tyranny. Failure in either of these respects can lead to death or being cast out from one’s group and therefore those who display such traits are more likely to survive and pass on their genes. Education is a strong factor in the psychology of disobedience. Contrary to what liberals would like you to believe, there are not many truths. For example, looking back at the brutal reign of Stalin in Russia or , why did those who lived during these times remain obedient to the point of committing the most brutal of actions including the murder and torture of completely innocent people en masse? Two actors, posing as other subjects to shock the victim, were introduced. No variation was so effective in getting the real subject to disobey the experimenter. Only by doing this can we loosen the grip which pernicious ideologies have on our minds and instead, as Thoreau recommended, use our own conscience to evaluate the right or wrong of an action.People are also more likely to disobey the tyrannical commands of those in power if they lose confidence in the capability of their rulers. They refused to continue when told to give electric shocks to the learner when he gave a wrong answer. Under this condition of peer rebellion, only 10% of subjects went on to deliver the high… Self-education and ridding oneself of the false beliefs that result from years of indoctrination and excessive propaganda is crucial.

However, in other cases obedience can result in the most brutal of outcomes: What this sad fact of history suggests is that humans have a strong tendency to obey those in positions of power. Although it may seem to be contradictory, that a people must both, be compliant and unyielding at the same time, it really is not.You first have to understand and accept what truth is. Become a member and gain access to exclusive member videos.Become a member and gain access to exclusive member videos.Academy of Ideas participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn commissions by linking to Amazon.The Psychology of Obedience and The Virtue of DisobedienceThese words, penned by Henry David Thoreau in his great work action, but when it comes to the things demanded of them by their government, unquestioned obedience, with little thought as to the right or wrong of the action, is the norm.In this video we are going to examine the psychology of obedience, paying particular attention to why people obey those in power even if it means committing actions that in any other situation they would view as immoral. But while the influence of dominance hierarchies in our evolutionary history can help explain the human tendency to obey, it does not fully explain why people obey even when the actions demanded of them are clearly immoral or to the detriment of their own survival. Those with the courage to disobey are not only protectors of freedom but, as Erich Fromm suggested, individuals who move a society forward: In this video we examine the psychology of obedience, paying particular attention to why people obey those in power even if it means committing actions that in any other situation they would view as immoral. In other words, paying taxes, along with the knowledge that this money is being used to fund programs and activities which one sees as immoral can generate cognitive dissonance. Totalitarian regimes of the 20th century clearly recognized this as they all instituted forms of mass surveillance on their citizenry. But a more common way to quell this dissonance is to adopt justifications to excuse these government actions or to avoid sources of information which trigger awareness of the immorality stemming from their own government.In addition to cognitive dissonance, another psychological bias which contributes to the human willingness to obey even a tyrannical government is the status quo bias which is the The need to be accepted, the powerful drive to conform as well as heavy doses of indoctrination all promote the status quo bias.

This could potentially happen if increasing numbers of people came to realize that societies are far too complex for centralized government control to be effective. As Huemer explains:It is thus not surprising that so many people unquestioningly obey government commands, no matter how oppressive or tyrannical they become, when one accounts for the cognitive biases and evolved tendencies of man. In the 1960s, the social psychologist Stanley Milgram did a famous research study called the obedience study. However, while this is true to a degree, fear alone cannot account for the fact thatmany people do not recognize or acknowledge the injustice of their own government even when they are living under tyranny. Survival in a dominance hierarchy requires the ability to make distinctions between rank and recognition of the permitted and forbidden actions based on one’s rank. An extremely common trigger for dissonance in the modern day arises from the requirement to pay taxes to fund government activities which involve things that one views as unethical –examples could include the caging of drug users, the bailing out of crony-capitalists, the fighting of wars, or the mass surveillance of one’s own citizenry. Realizing that so much of one’s life is being monitored, the surveillance capabilities of governments, like an all-seeing eye of god, will make thoughts and behaviors favoring compliance and conformity the norm.While the tendency to obey is certainly a prominent feature of man, there are always a brave few who in the face of corrupt power are willing to stand up and refuse. JGI/Jamie Grill/Getty Images Obedience is a form of social influence that involves performing an action under the orders of an authority figure. Social Psychology Obedience is compliance with commands given by an authority figure.