July 29, 2021
I’m generally optimistic when it comes to us humans. Despite our flaws, I have hope for humanity. As a species we’re resilient, tough, and can endure some pretty hard times.
That being said, sometimes I’m reminded of the other side of the coin: we can easily be manipulated, scammed, and taken advantage of. Despite our progress and ingenuity, there are still some gaping holes in our psychologies that leave us vulnerable and prone to making mistakes and hurting our own brothers and sisters.
Very few things remind me of that unfortunate reality more than the Milgram Experiment.
I think the Milgram Experiment should be required reading for all humans on the planet. If you’ve never heard of it, we’ll remedy that today.
The famous experiment was conducted by Stanley Milgram of Yale University in 1961. Milgram wanted to study the willingness of the participants to obey a perceived authority figure—even if it meant harming someone else. He ended up with results that shocked him. The experiment worked like this:
There were three roles: Experimenter, Teacher, and Learner.
The subject of the study—the unsuspecting person who responded to the ad—was the Teacher. The Experimenter (who was in on it) told the Teacher that he was participating in an experiment that tested memory and recall. He was to read a list of word pairs to the Learner (an actor also in on it), who was supposed to commit the word pairs to memory. Then, the Teacher would reread single words with four possible answers for the Learner to correctly pair, thus testing his memory.
If the Learner chose incorrectly, the Teacher was to press a button that delivered an electric shock to the Learner (no real shocks were used, unbeknownst to the Teacher).
The “shocks” started out small—15 volts. But as the experiment progressed, the shocks increased dramatically—up to 450 volts, which is lethal. The voltage and a warning were displayed for the Teacher on the device in which he delivered the “shock” to the Learner so the Teacher was aware of the increasing level of harm he was inducing.
As the study proceeded, Milgram found that, as expected, most Teachers grew nervous about delivering increasingly high voltage shocks to the Learner. To amp up the drama, the Learner would cry out and beg for the Teacher to stop shocking him. Yet most of participants continued to do so when instructed to by the Experimenter, who they perceived as an authority figure.
If the Teacher (the subject) hesitated in delivering the shock to the Learner, the Experimenter would prod them with four statements, specifically in this order:
- “Please continue” or “Please go on.”
- “The experiment requires that you continue.”
- “It is absolutely essential that you continue.”
- “You have no other choice; you must go on.”
If the Teacher refused to shock the Learner after the fourth statement, the experiment ended.
Milgram found that 65% of participants (26 out of 40 people) ultimately delivered the 450 volt shock to the Learner—even when the participant knew it was fatal—simply because an “authority figure” in a white lab coat told them to do so.
As humans, we are incredibly susceptible to authority figures—even ones that have no right to have authority over us. This blind belief and acceptance of authority can result in some terrible things, ranging from inconvenient to downright horrific. These terrible things are then explained away with a common refrain: “I’m just following orders.”
Here are some examples:
- A dedicated and hard-working employee is called into his boss’s office. The employee and his boss have always gotten along, but a mistake by upper management has occurred, and because of the hierarchal structure of the company, shit runs downhill and a lower level employee must be blamed. The boss explains this sadly to the employee and proceeds to write him up. The employee protests and begs. “I’m sorry,” his boss responds. “I’m just following orders.”
- A police officer pulls over a man for speeding. The man explains he’s rushing to the hospital because his wife is in labor with his child. The officer sympathizes, but only shakes his head and writes a ticket anyway. “I’m sorry,” he says. “I’m just following orders.”
- A solider from an invading country crouches on a battlefield, firing his automatic weapon at a group of defending soldiers. None of those defending soldiers have ever done anything to him personally. All he knows is that his own country has told him these people are supposedly his enemy. “I’m sorry,” he thinks as he continues to shoot. “I’m just following orders.”
Life in the Church is filled with so-called authority figures—pastors, elders, youth leaders, and even God himself. All are there as an ostensible authority over your actions, your thoughts, your beliefs, and your life.
Because you were told these entities were authorities, you are more prone to obey them—even if they never actually proved themselves to be legitimate authorities or they asked you to do things (or not do things) that ultimately bring harm to yourself and others.
Although scary at first, it can be so freeing after you leave the Church and realize that you can finally let go of all those so-called authorities that actually had no right to control you.
Also, don’t forget that breaking out of the Church—as difficult as it can be—is only one way to remove needless authority from your life. I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it because it’s that important—deconstruction is a skill that pertains to everything in your life, not just religion, and the process can and should be used to root out other forms of needless “authority” in your life so that you can truly be a sovereign and autonomous individual.
I’ve also noticed that most people “need” some sort of authority figure in their life. “Need” goes in quotes because they don’t actually need it; they just think they do. Some people “need” someone or something external to themselves to tell them—whether directly or indirectly—what to do, what to think, and how to live their lives. Some examples include:
- A god, deity, or holy book.
- A social movement.
- A politician.
- A culture.
- An overbearing spouse.
- A family member.
People stuck under the influence of such authority figures have not yet made the choice to take full responsibility over their own lives. Some people never get to that point.
Stanley Milgram also ran his experiment with two variations: one in which the participant saw someone decline to give the final lethal shock and another in which the participant saw someone give the final lethal shock—each before they themselves assumed the role of Teacher.
When the participant saw someone refuse to give the final shock, the tendency for study participants to go through with the final shock dropped by 20%. However, when the participant saw someone give the final shock before they themselves assumed the role of teacher, the likelihood of the participant giving the final shock jumped from 65% to 92%. That’s insane.
Given that most of us learn at a young age to follow authority figures first by being told but then also by watching others follow authority figures, these results demonstrate just how much of the human population is on autopilot, mumbling to themselves and others: “I’m just following orders.”
Don’t be one of those. Deconstruct, and then deconstruct some more.
For more information about this topic, read my article Authority & The Deconverted Man Part 2.