CONFORMITY & OBEDIENCE

Conformity and Obedience

Conformity and Obedience

Introduction

Conformity and Obedience are the two branches of human behaviour; however, a very thin line tends to separate the two. Human behaviour tends to change under different circumstances and thus cannot remain constant. Human behaviour is commanded as per factors, which can be either external or internal in nature. External behaviour can include the presence of an individual which can be the cause of varying behaviour. Internal factors can be related to the overall health of a person, if an individual is suffering a high fever, he or she might behave differently as opposed to his or her natural behaviour (Christine 2010, p.97). Humans like other animals cannot live in isolation and therefore constantly requires a circle around them, when he or she tends to operate in a circle; it is bound to have some effect on human behaviour. In the Context of this paper we will try to narrow down the difference between two traits of a human behaviour which is obedience and conformity.

Discussion

Obedience is interpreted as an act under the orders of any individual or any authority, obedience tends to portray the fact that an authority is controlling the actions of an individual. It is strict adherence to the ideas and principles of obedience that the society tends to function. However the power which authority tend to enjoy is also given to them by the society. Many experts tend to believe that the power, we tend to a figure due to trepidation and in some cases the power enjoyed by the authority is due to reverence. We tend to act according to the orders of the god because we humans tend to fear him and therefore try to follow the orders of the god, since he tends to control everything. Similarly we tend to follow the orders of our parents, not because of the fear factor but primarily due to the reason that we respect them. Stanley Milgram however conducted an experiment after being impresses by the work of Germans in the concentration camp, which never questioned the authority and worked as per the will of the authority.

Milgram proposed that people tend to operate as the individuals who are responsible for their own actions, or in other words they seem to be held accountable only when they perform as per their own will. The other stage involves that the people tend to act as if they are the representative body which is being controlled by someone else. In this case they seem to consider that they are not responsible for their own actions. Milgram through his experiment concluded the fact that the shift between the two stages can occur at any moment. When the individual feels that the action he did was not in any way related to him or her and therefore tends to blame the authority, this is done primarily to take cover. As stated earlier that the people tends to operate under an authority and therefore that authority also ...