Most people think they will resist authority – they are wrong

When faced with authoritative figures who demand harmful action, most Americans consider them an exception to rejection.

New Ohio State University research shows that this confidence is dangerously misplaced. Even if people know about the infamous Milgram Shock Experiment (65% of participants brought fatal electric shocks to strangers), they still can’t imagine themselves succumbing to the same pressure.

The study, published in current psychology, requires more than 400 adults to predict their behavior in Stanley Milgram’s controversial 1960s obedience experiments. What happened next was amazing: Participants consistently underestimated their sensitivity to authority while correctly realizing that others would be more compliant.

A better trap than average

“Social stress is stronger and more influential than the honor we give them,” said Philip Mazzocco, lead author of the study and associate professor of psychology at Ohio State University. “If you fall under the influence of these stresses, you may end up being inconsistent with your values ​​and morality.”

Participants predicted that they would withdraw from the 30 possible levels of hypothetical shock experiments at Level 7. However, they estimate that the average person will continue to level 12, which is much lower than the actual compliance rate observed in the actual Milgram study.

This pattern even though the researchers explicitly told half of the participants that 65% of the original Milgram subjects throughout the experiment showed “complete obedience.” With this knowledge, people adjust their predictions about others, but remain confident in their own resistance.

Knowledge does not equal immunity

Perhaps most surprising is that there is little difference between being familiar with the Milgram experiment before. Among 34.8% of participants, predictions about individual behavior were as unrealistic as those who learned about it for the first time.

The research team used Amazon’s Mechanical Turkish Platform to recruit participants and implemented careful quality control to ensure reasonable response. After reading the first-person account of the Milgram scenario, participants used actual voltage machine photos from the original experiment to make predictions.

Personality paradox

When researchers examined personality traits, they found a fascinating contradiction. Those who score on earnestness (associated with compliance with rules and responsibility) predict that they will have fewer submissions in this case. However, previous actual Milgram replication found that serious people were more likely to comply with the experimenter’s requirements.

This disconnection suggests that even knowing our own personality does not help us predict how we will act under intense social pressure. The researchers found that female participants and older adults had less obedience to themselves and others, and that education levels had no significant relationship with predictions.

Beyond simple obedience

The study also reveals important differences in how people deal with authoritative programs. Age became an important factor, with older participants predicting less overall compliance. Gender differences also emerge, with women expecting greater resistance than men.

Interestingly, the right-wing authoritarian score (the tendency to succumb to authority figures) has nothing to do with the self-predictions of obedience. This shows that even those who usually respect authority will not blindly follow it in harmful situations.

The meaning of the real world

“Such research is socially relevant, because if we all think we are so resistant to obedience, we will not be immune to the authority figures who want to exploit us,” Mazzocco explained.

The research team will disconnect between prediction and actual behavior from the disconnection of “watching a horror movie with the actual hunt for the murderer.” Without real compliance pressures, people can never understand how situations can transcend personal values.

What is the solution? Mazzocco recommends developing “immune technologies” such as learning to avoid high-pressure situations or preparing for escape strategies. If it cannot be removed, he suggests using curiosity as a tool to be loyal to personal values.

This study reminds you that good intentions and moral clarity may not be enough when faced with real authority pressure. The first step towards resistance may be to admit that none of us can be affected as much as we want to believe.

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