1. Social Psychology & Nazi Germany

2. Conformity
Dr. David Myers defines conformity as
“adjusting one's behavior or thinking to coincide with a group standard.”

3. Zimbardo – Power of the Situation clip [6:22-7:15]
Asch study
Zimbardo – Power of the Situation clip [6:22-7:15]

4. Asch study 18 sets of lines 12 times confederates answer incorrectly
RESULTS:
76% of people conformed at least once
50% of people conformed at least three times

5. Factors: Conformity No strong prior opinion
Experimenter/authority makes subject feel insecure
Importance of belonging to a group
Size of group (3 or more)
Unanimous group
Pressure from group
Respect for social expectations
Adapted from

6. Conformity and the Nazi state
 Some commitment to anti-Semitism
Punishment by authorities for not following through
Group membership crucial
Large groups = more conformity
Seems to be unanimity (not 100%, but strong)
Pressure from peers to conform
Respect for social order/standards = high

7. Milgram study Majority of participants go to 450 volts
“Just following orders”

8. Why subjects obeyed Taught to! Trust the experts Conflicting norms
Small steps – increments go up slowly
Can’t undo past behavior – follow through with experiment
Fast experiment – not making the best decisions

9. Variations: Milgram’s study

10. Factors: Obedience Perception of authority Separation from victim
Closer supervision by authority = more obedience
Models of obedience
Gender, age, education ARE NOT RELEVANT

11. Obedience and the Nazi state
Totalitarian state
Distance to victim varied, but still obedience was high
Many perpetrators worked in mobile killing squads or extermination camps
Constant threat of authority watching
Surrounded by obedient peers
Diffusion of responsibility – “just following orders”

12. Conflicts: Milgram study
Many perpetrators reported enjoying their work – in Milgram’s study, participants uncomfortable
Jews attacked point-blank – in study, physical proximity decreased obedience
Perpetrators followed through on orders even if commander wasn’t present – but in study, obedience decreased when authority was distant

13. Stanford Prison Experiment
Philip Zimbardo
Mock prison setting: would people change to fill their assigned (perceived) roles?
Zimbardo – Power of the Situation clip [12:25-18:43]

14. Factors: Assigned Roles
Normal students acted the way they thought prison guards would behave; prisoners behaved as they thought prisoners would behave in that situation
Sadistic behaviors within the first few days – a 2 week experiment canceled after 6 days
Zimbardo himself got lost in his role as warden
No one rebelled against prison system

15. Power of the Situation
“We exaggerate the extent to which our actions are voluntary and rationally chosen- or, put differently, we understate the power of the situation. My claim is not that individuals are incapable of criminal culpability; rather, it is that, like the horrible behavior brought out by my experiment in good, normal young men, the situation and the system creating it also must share in the responsibility for illegal and immoral behavior.”
-Philip Zimbardo, 2007

16. Assigned Roles and the Nazi State
Men with no police or military experience were assigned as executioners or guards
Three types of guards (like in Prison Experiment)
Sadistic
Focused on duty
Lenient
Essentially no one rebels against this system

17. Power of the Situation
"The social psychology of this century reveals a major lesson: often it is not so much the kind of person a man is as the kind of situation in which he finds himself that determines how he will act.”
- Stanley Milgram,1974