6 The Psychology of Authority The Problem of Political Authority: An Examination of the Right to Coerce and the Duty to Obey by Michael Huemer - esoterismoanarchico idirittidellopinionepubblica boeziothemilgramexperiment ubbidientisenzavolerlo autoassoluzioniaraffica linguaggiodelpotere linguaggiodellafilosofia ermellinietonache travestirelaviolenza welfaretirannobenevolente messacroinvietnam guardiaeladriconzimbardo potenzadelruolo
In this chapter, I review some evidence from psychology and history, both about the attitudes and behavior of those who are subject to others’ (alleged) authority and about the attitudes and behavior of those who are in positions of authority.Read more at location 2847
the question of how desirable or harmful it may be to encourage skepticism about authority.Read more at location 2851
Some defenders of authority have openly worried about the consequences that might result from anarchistic ideas.Read more at location 2855
This disobedience, in turn, might lead the state to become more violent and oppressive.Read more at location 2857
anarchism should be rejected because it is simply too far out of the mainstream of political opinion. The belief in political obligations, writes George Klosko, ‘is a basic feature of our political consciousness’.Read more at location 2864
‘The general opinion of mankind has some authority in all cases; but in this of morals ’tis perfectly infallible.’Read more at location 2867
All things considered, I think it more likely that others are mistaken than that I am.Read more at location 2871
The most commonly cited illustration of the alleged error is the case of Christopher Columbus; when Columbus wanted to sail around the world,Read more at location 2875
The explanation is a simple matter of probability: for the majority to be wrong, the same cognitive malfunction or cognitive malfunctions producing the same result must have occurred many times in different brains. For one person to be wrong, a cognitive malfunction need only have occurred once.Read more at location 2903
isn’t the lone conspiracy nut in the office who insists that ‘9/11 was an inside job’ and that the U.S. government created AIDS a more typical example of a dissenter against a large majority opinion than Christopher Columbus?Read more at location 2913
The experimenter (actually a high school teacher whom Milgram had hired to play the role) informed both of them that they would participate in a study of the effects of punishment on learning. One of them would be designated as the ‘teacher’ and the other as the ‘learner’. Through a rigged drawing, the naive subject was selected as the teacher, and the confederate as the learner. The experimenter explained that the teacher would read pairs of words to the learner, who would attempt to remember which word was associated with which other word. The teacher would then quiz the learner. Each time the learner gave a wrong answer, the teacher was to administer an electric shock,Read more at location 2929
The learner mentioned that he had a slight heart condition and asked whether the experiment was safe. The experimenter assured himRead more at location 2937
At 300 volts, the victim refused to provide any further answers to the memory test. The experimenter instructed the teacher to treat a failure to answer as a wrongRead more at location 2944
If the subject still resisted after the fourth prod, the experiment was discontinued.Read more at location 2952
The real purpose was to determine how far subjects would be willing to obey the experimenter.Read more at location 2954
teacher clearly ought not to continue administering shocks after the learner demands to be released.Read more at location 2958
Milgram described the experiment to students, psychiatrists, and ordinary adults and asked them to predict both how they themselves would behaveRead more at location 2961
110 respondents, every one said that they would defy the experimenter at some point,Read more at location 2963
The predictions of psychiatrists, students, and lay people fell shockingly far from reality. In the actual experiment, 65 percent of subjects complied fully, eventually administering the 450-volt shockRead more at location 2970
Most subjects protested and showed obvious signs of anxiety and reluctance – but ultimately, they did what they were told.Read more at location 2971
Milgram reports, obedient subjects have no trouble living with themselves afterward, because these subjects by and large rationalize their behavior,Read more at location 2975
One important lesson, the one most prominently advanced by Milgram himself, is that of the danger inherent in institutions of authority.Read more at location 2979
Adolf Hitler, working alone, could perhaps have murdered a few dozen or even a few hundred people. What enabled him to become one of history’s greatest murderers was the socially recognized positionRead more at location 2981
related lesson suggested by Milgram’s results: most people’s disposition to obey authorities is far stronger than one would have thought at first glanceRead more at location 2991
the experience of being subjected to an authority has a distorting influence on one’s moral perceptions.Read more at location 2993
Arendt’s memorable description of the case, Adolf Eichmann thought he was doing his duty by obeying the law of Germany, which was inextricably tied to the will of the Führer; he would have felt guilty if he didn’t follow both the letter and the spirit of Hitler’s orders.Read more at location 3004
Now suppose, hypothetically, that all governments were illegitimate and that no one was obligated to obey their commands (except where the commands line up with preexisting moral requirements). The psychological and historical evidence cannot show whether this radical ethical hypothesis is true. But what the evidence does suggest is that if that hypothesis were true, it is quite likely that we would still by and large feel bound to obey our governments. That is likely, because even people who are subjected to the clearest examples of illegitimate power still typically feel bound to obey.Read more at location 3018
Thus, the widespread belief in political authority does not provide strong evidence for the reality of political authority,Read more at location 3024
when we have two or more cognitions that stand in conflict or tension with one another – and particularly when our behavior or other reactions appear to conflict with our self-image.15 We then tend to alter our beliefs or reactions to reduce the dissonance.Read more at location 3028
Subjects in the ‘One Dollar’ condition were paid a dollar to tell someone (supposedly another volunteer subject coming in) that the task had been fun and interesting. Subjects in the ‘Twenty Dollars’ condition were paid twenty dollars to say the same thing. Finally, subjects in the Control condition were not asked to say anythingRead more at location 3035
Later, all three groups were interviewed regarding what they really thought of the repetitive task they had performed for an hour. Subjects in the Twenty Dollars condition had slightly more favorable views than those in the Control group – both of how enjoyable the task was and of how willing they would be to participate in a similar experiment in the future. Subjects in the One Dollar condition, however, had significantly more favorable viewsRead more at location 3038
Most people do not generally think of themselves as liars. Therefore, if they found the task they had performed boring, yet they remember that they told someone it was enjoyable, they will experience cognitive dissonance. If the task wasn’t enjoyable, why had they said it was? Subjects in the Twenty Dollars condition could readily explain this to themselves: they lied to get the money. But for subjects in the One Dollar condition, this explanation was less satisfying.Read more at location 3043
Milgram’s subjects. Before participating in the experiment, almost no one would regard obedience in such a scenario as morally acceptable. But afterwards, many obedient subjects found their behavior acceptable.Read more at location 3059
This psychological principle generates a bias in favor of recognizing political authority.Read more at location 3061
We could explain our behavior by citing fear of punishment, habit, the drive toward social conformity, or a general emotional drive to obey whoever holds power. But none of those explanations is emotionally satisfying. Much more pleasing is the explanation that we obey because we are conscientious and caring citizens,Read more at location 3064
One reason for doubting that view of our reasons for obedience is that highly conscientious and caring individuals might be expected to donate large amounts of money to famine relief organizations and other such (nongovernmental) charity groups.Read more at location 3068
Yet for most people, extremely large ‘sacrifices’ are typically made only when they are commanded by an authorityRead more at location 3071
The purpose was to observe how the naive subject would react to the conflict between the evidence of his senses and the unanimous opinion of the group.Read more at location 3085
under normal circumstances, people would be over 99 percent reliable at the comparison task. Under the misleading influence of the group, however, naive subjects’ reliability fell to 63 percent.Read more at location 3086
Some subjects believed the group was wrong but went along with what the group saidRead more at location 3089
A very few other subjects gave every appearance of being unaware that anything had gone wrongRead more at location 3090
Status quo bias convinces us that what our society practices must be good.Read more at location 3100
The most obvious and powerful demonstration of both forces is provided by the phenomenon of culture.Read more at location 3100
Outsiders would doubtless regard many of our culture’s beliefs and practices as bizarre, absurd, or immoralRead more at location 3105
What does this tell us about the belief in political authority? Government is an extremely prominent and fundamental feature of the structure of our society.Read more at location 3108
There are many buildings in Denver much larger than the capitol building but perhaps none that is so successful at making the visitor feel small.Read more at location 3141
When power is passed to a new U.S. president, a public swearing-in ceremony is conducted.Read more at location 3150
What function does this ritual serve? On the surface, the function is to ensure that the new president will serve faithfully and preserve the Constitution.Read more at location 3156
In primitive societies, these rituals are thought to actually tap magical power. Among modern viewers, the rituals have their effect on an emotional, semiconscious level.Read more at location 3164
A great deal of other specialized language is used in preference to plain English.Read more at location 3170
Why are courts so ritualistic? Perhaps because it is here that the state is most concerned to portray its coercion as justice.Read more at location 3174
The process must not be seen as just a group of people who have decided to hurt another person because they don’t like something he did.Read more at location 3177
The writing of lawyers, judges, and lawmakers is so distinctive that it is often referred to as ‘legalese’,Read more at location 3196
There are frequent cross-references to other laws. There are often long and seemingly redundant disjunctions and conjunctions,Read more at location 3199
The technical vocabulary frequently relies on Latin or other foreign languages,Read more at location 3203
that laws and legal documents are frequently incomprehensible to ordinary people – one must hire a trained professional to interpret them.Read more at location 3205
Another effect of legal language is to emotionally distance the writer, both from his subject matter and from his audience.Read more at location 3209
harm to be imposed by force on other people would be a stressful occupation (whether or not the victims deserve to be harmed). The abstract, technical language helps the audience and the author forget that this is what is happening,Read more at location 3213
Similar language is often used by theorists engaged in devising recommendations and justifications for the exercise of power. The most respected contemporary political philosophers usually employ language reminiscent of legalese. Consider a representative passage from the most celebrated political thinker of recent times, John Rawls:Read more at location 3215
The prose is filled with solemn-sounding technical terms, such as ‘pure procedural justice’, ‘the liberal principle of fair equality of opportunity’,Read more at location 3224
Extra words are employed so that a statement may be made in a weaker or less direct manner, as with the above use of ‘I should now like to commentRead more at location 3227
What I claim is that certain styles of writing, exemplified by typical legal documents as well as some philosophical work, have the effect of softening emotional obstacles to the acceptance of state authorityRead more at location 3231
They serve to dress up the discussion of who should be subjected to violence in somber and civilized clothes.Read more at location 3233
After the incident was over, the victims continued to sympathize with and defend the criminals.33 Since then, the term ‘Stockholm Syndrome’ has been used to describe the emotional bond that victims sometimes form with kidnappers.34Read more at location 3241
A more extreme case was that of Patricia Hearst, who was kidnapped in 1974 by a left-wing terrorist group in California calling itself the Symbionese Liberation Army.Read more at location 3244
A more recent case is that of Jaycee Lee Dugard, who was kidnapped at the age of eleven by ex-convict Phillip Garrido. Garrido raped her and held her captive in a shed in his backyard.Read more at location 3248
During that time, Dugard had assisted Garrido with his home business, sorting orders by phone and email. She had met customers alone at the door. She had even gone out in public.Read more at location 3251
first, the captor poses a credible threat to the life of the captive victim. Second, the victim perceives some form of kindness on the part of the captor.Read more at location 3257
Third, the victim is isolated from the outside world and subjected only to the captor’s perspective. Fourth, the victim sees himself as unable to escape.Read more at location 3261
one plausible account ascribes the syndrome to an unconscious defensive mechanism.Read more at location 3272
iii) The victim is unable to overpower the aggressor or to effectively defend himself against the aggressor.Read more at location 3293
iv) The victim perceives some kindness from the aggressor, even if only in the form of lack of abuse.Read more at location 3295
All modern governments control their populations through threats of violence. In some cases, their capacity for violence is astonishing.Read more at location 3310
Escape from one’s own government tends to be difficult and costly, typically requiring an abandonment of one’s family and friends, one’s job, and one’s entire society.Read more at location 3314
It is virtually impossible for any individual to effectively defend himselfRead more at location 3318
Most citizens perceive their government as beneficent in light of the social services that it provides.Read more at location 3320
Most people obtain the great majority of their information from sources within their own country.Read more at location 3326
Recall the case of the massacre at My Lai. Most of the soldiers who were ordered to murder civilians obeyed.Read more at location 3350
the vast majority of people who were aware of the massacre, whether they participated or not, did nothing to stop it. The exception was one brave helicopter team, which saved a small number of villagersRead more at location 3353
U.S. government attempted to cover up the massacre and to protect the soldiers responsible for it. Only after the story was leaked to the press did the government move toward prosecuting war criminals. In the end, a single person was convicted and sentenced for the massacre, Lieutenant William Calley, who ultimately spent three years under house arrest. Hugh Thompson, the heroic helicopter pilot who saved some of the civilians, was initially treated like a criminal.Read more at location 3356
One lesson from the story is that even those who do not actively participate in abuses of power are often complicit in them.Read more at location 3364
Cases like My Lai remind us that it is not only dictatorships that commit atrocities. Advanced, democratic nations commit atrocities, too, albeit with less frequency and on a smaller scale, a fact that leaves us with small ground for self-congratulation.Read more at location 3369
Zimbardo collected 21 volunteers, all male college students, to play the role of either prisoners or guards in a simulated prison.Read more at location 3378
The experimenters provided minimal guidance on the treatment of prisoners,Read more at location 3382
What the experimenters observed was a spiraling pattern of abuse on the part of the guards that began almost immediately and worsened each day.Read more at location 3383
made to perform tedious, pointless, and degrading tasks ad nauseam (doing pushups with other prisoners sitting on their backs, cleaning the toilet with their hands, and so on); required to verbally insult both themselves and each other; deprived of sleep; confined for hours in a closet with about one square yard of floor space; and finally required to perform simulated sodomy.Read more at location 3385
on the sixth day the experimenters found it ethically necessary to terminate the experiment.Read more at location 3390
the prisoners and guards had been screened beforehand. The experimenters had given questionnaires and personal interviews to an initial pool of 75 volunteers in order to select only the most normal, psychologically stable participants. Furthermore, on the basis of psychological testing, there appeared to be no significant initial personality differencesRead more at location 3396
There was something about the guard role that brought out the worst in people. Zimbardo’s central conclusion, from this study and much other evidence, is that the determinants of good or evil behavior lie more in the situations that individuals are placed into than in those individuals’ intrinsic dispositions.Read more at location 3407
Lord Acton, I believe, had the right of it: power corrupts.54 This has long been apparent from history;Read more at location 3411
When the Stanford Prison Experiment was ended prematurely, all the prisoners were relieved. Most of the guards, however, seemed disappointed. They were enjoying tormenting their charges.Read more at location 3414
George Orwell had a key insight into this connection: ‘How does one man assert his power over another ... ? ... By making him suffer. ... Unless he is suffering, how can you be sure that he is obeying your will and not his own? Power is in inflicting pain and humiliation.Read more at location 3419
There is thus reason to believe that it is no accident that governments have so often been led by tyrannical leaders.Read more at location 3423
The prisoners in the experiment, initially at least somewhat resistant, were reduced to meek submission by the end of the experiment.Read more at location 3425
this is puzzling, as the guards had no real power to compel the prisoners to obey.Read more at location 3427
One lesson to draw from this is that psychologically, power is self-validating. Even when the ‘authorities’ are selected entirely arbitrarilyRead more at location 3433
Furthermore, the longer one obeys an authority figure, the more one feels ‘bound’ to continue to do so.Read more at location 3435
6.8 Conclusion: anatomy of an illusion
