Naziism & Holocaust Eichmann in Jerusalem Obedience to Authority Sanctioned Massacres

Psychology’s Response to Fascism Obedience -- Milgram & others Authoritarianism -- Adorno et al & others

Anti-Semitism Christian: Jews as killers of God agents of Satan / killers of babies money-lenders Nazi: communist conspiracy conspiracy of financiers biological race theory:parasites bacteria vermin

Eichmann in Jerusalem Hannah Arendt From minor bureaucrat to organizer of holocaust Not anti-Semitic Authority, loyalty & bureaucracy put conscience out of commission “frighteningly normal”

Milgram Obedience Experiment Subject:plays “teacher” role Confederate:plays “learner” role Confederate:plays “experimenter” role

Milgram Obedience Experiment Series of experiments: Indep. variables: proximity of authority salience of victim group admin of shock Dep. Variable:shock level

Results from main variations

Factors increasing obedience: Authority of experimenter Proximity of experimenter Distance form victim Absence of dissenters Presence of other compliers Reduced role in giving shock Authority of institution

Milgram’s Theory Force fields Subject switches state “autonomous”  “agentic” conscience “inhibited” in agentic state

Zimbardo Prison Experiment Abu Ghraib?

Zimbardo Prison Experiment Random assignment of prisoners & guards 5 released – “extreme emotional depression, crying, rage and acute anxiety” Ended after 6 days

Zimbardo Prison Experiment Guards found “sense of power was exhilarating” Prisoner responses: –Disbelief –Rebellion –Isolation, self-interest, deprecation –Half became “sick”

Zimbardo: Prisoner Responses Loss of personal identity –“Deindividuation” Learned helplessness Emasculation  Power of role

Nazi Doctors Robert J. Lifton Doubling: Doctors create “Auschwitz self” Shift between two selves

Effects of obedience / conformity ? State  Role  Self

Functions of the Executive Chester Barnard, 1938 Two “modes” of viewing & treating others: 1) outside of organizations, people can act as unique individuals 2) as member of organizations, people are “depersonalized,” and “regarded in their purely functional aspects, as phases of cooperation.”

Functions of the Executive Chester Barnard, 1938 “Every participant in an organization may be regarded as having a dual personality -- an organization personality and an individual personality.”

Functions of the Executive Chester Barnard, 1938 At lower levels in the hierarchy organi- zations create a “zone of indifference” … “Within which orders are acceptable without conscious questioning of their authority.” “Makes it possible normally to treat a personal question impersonally.”

Functions of the Executive Chester Barnard, 1938 Higher levels in hierarchy requires creation of 2 nd personality -- “organizational personality” -- aligned with goals of organization: “Most executive decisions appear in the guise of technical decisions, and their moral aspects are not consciously appreciated. An executive may make many important decisions without reference to any sense of personal interest or of morality.”

States  Selves Milgram:45 min.state change Zimbardo:6 daysrole/identity change Lifton:monthsdouble self  State develops via role into self ??

Sanctioned Massacres Nazi “Mobile Killing Units” MyLai Rwanda? Iraqi militias?

Einsatzgruppen “Mobile Killing Units”

My Lai

MY LAI MASSACRE: MARCH 16, 1968

Lt. Calley Sentenced to life in prison; released in 1974

Hugh Thompson

Sanctioned Massacres H. Kelman Authorization Routinization De-individuation of actor De-humanization of victims

Sanctioned Massacres Authorization:authority situation –relieves individual of moral responsibility –calls into play morality of loyalty & duty Routinization:role in organization –task becomes a job –violence broken into tasks –language of euphamisms

Sanctioned Massacres De-individuation of the actor –individual takes on identity of organization –de-emphasize personal characteristics De-humanization of the victims –victims given group identity –victims portrayed as non-human –Deprived of membership in common human group

Sanctioned Massacres Killers & torturers can be made Tearing-down & re-construction of identity –separation –“liminal” phase of instruction, rehearsal & testing –return in new status