Social Influences And Its Impact On Society - 1874 Words

Social influences play a significant role in the way in which we respond to situations and how societies as a whole conform to the political rules and regulations. Social influences and pressures also mean that society has to conform to authority figures and follow their orders. Examples of this is taking orders from your boss at work or taking instructions off police constables. This social ranking is not only present in today s society but also can be seen historically. One of the most significant examples of conforming to the demands of an authority figure was witnessed in Second World War, where 45 million people were slaughtered on command (Milgram cited in Dixon). Stanley Milgram was intrigued by this and explored this level of†¦show more content†¦Around 45 million innocent people were slaughtered by soldiers on the command of higher authority figures. Milgram was interested in how thoughts likes this of a single person could be so influential s and powerful that he was able to get thousands of people to obey his orders to commit such horrific acts on innocent people. Milgram s study was specifically focused on destructive obedience focusing on the events that took place in the Second World War to try and establish some form of understanding as to how and why this level of command and obedience took place. Milgram looked in depth on how he could conduct an experiment in which would display the social influences of obedience and how this relates to an authority figure. His experiment consisted of 40 participants in which they had to administer electrics shocks to a victim. The victim was not actually shocked but his standardized responses were to ensure that his actions and responses were as if he were being shocked. A simulated shock generator was used, which the levels of the voltage of electricity was clearly marked, reading from 15 to 450 volts. The participant was ordered to shock the victim every time they gave the wrong answer to a question. The experimenter was there to command the participant to administer the shocks to victims, increasing the voltage every time. Milgram set the boundary that if they continued to the voltage level marked danger serve