Name : Muhammad Atif Adnan

Roll No : 47021

Factors that Increase Obedience

Obedience is compliance with commands given by an authority figure. Obedience is a form of
social influence where an individual acts in response to a direct order from another individual, who is
usually an authority figure. It is assumed that without such an order the person would not have acted in
this way.

Blind obedience to authority can cause people to do terrible things they would never do on their
own. Obedience to authority is often the mitigating plea made by people charged with crimes against
humanity.

In a society of mutual trust and respect, juniors obey seniors, students obey their teachers employees
obey employers, subordinates obey the boss. . The less powerful and weak obeys the more powerful
and physically strong one.

The child from the early state is taught to obey the advice and instructions of his senior family
members, teachers and respectable persons of the society.

A father orders his child of six years to stop viewing cartoon network and go to study. And said him
to give a gift as reward after study. If the child accepts his fathers order and goes to study he is said
to obey his father.

A person who has clear authority and control over another person, he can only gives an order to
someone to obey it. Like a teacher gives order students to maintain discipline in the class.

In certain jobs where discipline among the workers is emphasized or given top priority like army, air
force, police, business, obedience is considered as a basic requirement. While choosing people for
these jobs it is examined whether the person is obedient or stubborn.

When a person shows obedience to the social norm and accepts what is told to him to do, he is
accepted as a disciplined worker. Even sometimes they are rewarded for their discipline. For example
when students do their work in good manners, they get good marks as reward.

People obey a person or rule when it has the power to give punishment. Orders of strong and
powerful people, people with power and authority are obeyed by weak and less powerful people, who
have less authority or power in the society.
 But even sometimes persons without authority and power to award punishment, and people who are
strangers command orders on submissive persons and produce high levels of obedience in others.
Milgram conducted a number of experiments to find out the existence of evidence if any, infavour of
the above view i.e., whether individuals would obey commands from a relatively powerless stranger.

If a killer is asked to kill someone with the assurance that if anything will happen, I will take the
responsibility the killer will obey the orders of the person.

Similarly when all the students of a class were ordered by the class teacher to give 5 slaps each on the
face of a girl who did not do her home work, the students obeyed it because they thought that their
teacher would take the responsibility if something happens and not they.

Thus lack of responsibility leads to obedience of commands and orders. Similarly in the Police Dept,
when an alleged criminal is interrogated and tortured by the junior police officers to get in to the
truth, the junior police officers would say I am only following the orders of my superiors and I
will not be responsible if any untoward incident happens.
In everyday situations, people obey orders because they want to get rewards, because they want to
avoid the negative consequences of disobeying, and because they believe an authority is legitimate. In
more extreme situations, people obey even when they are required to violate their own values or
commit crimes. Researchers think several factors cause people to carry obedience to extremes.

People dont want to be rude or offend the authority.

People obey easy commands first and then feel compelled to obey more and more difficult
commands. This process is called entrapment, and it illustrates the foot-in-the-door phenomenon.
People justify their behavior by assigning responsibility to the authority rather than themselves. This
type of feeling of lack of responsibility motivates one to obey orders. Society teaches man that
persons having authority must be obeyed. Thus a five year old child obeys his parents but does not
obey his care taker or maid servant.
An individual personality has a vital role in their willingness to obey. For example a medical student
on a night out may avoid smoking although his other peers are participating and encouraging him to.
This is due to the students own knowledge and self-confidence in his actions.

The presence of an authority figure. In schools, many teachers find that their absence from the
classroom instantly causes a eruption of noise caused by the pupils. This is because from a young
age we have been brought up viewing teachers as a legitimate authority figure.
 Disobedience
Disobedience becomes a sacred duty when the state becomes lawless and corrupt.

Mahatma Gandhi

Disobedience is a failure or refusal to obey rules and someone in authority. A disobedient person is not
liked anywhere. He cannot adjust with the circumstances of life in healthy way if he is disobedient.
Disobedient persons face a lot of difficulties in their day to day life. The child from the early state is
taught to obey the advice and instructions of his senior family members, teachers and respectable persons
of the society. Otherwise they will not become a respectable member of society.

Some general examples of disobedience:

When a boy of ten years asks the permission of his father to join a cricket team as a player. Father
says a big No to him. But he secretly joins the team without accepting his fathers order. This is
disobedience.

In an order the person is just told what to do. A person is transferred from a big college to a small
one. He does not obey the order of government. This is disobedience.

In certain jobs where discipline among the workers is emphasized or given top priority like army, air
force, police, business, obedience is considered as a basic requirement. While choosing people for
these jobs it is examined whether the person is obedient or stubborn. Disobedient persons are not
appointed in jobs requiring discipline of the first order. Disobedient persons are said to be
indisciplined.

If a person disobeys one with power and authority he is awarded various punishments like , fines,
stoppage of increments and promotions and finally may be and termination demotion.

The findings of this study proves that people do what they are asked to do. Further, additional
experiments conducted by Milgram also suggest that social support enables the person to disobey the
commands and orders of the authority.

When a father orders the child not to see cartoon network or not to play, but to read, but the mother
supports the child, the child is encouraged and does not give up seeing cartoon network, i.e, does not
obey his father.
 In our day to day life we come across many incidents where people behave in most disorganised and
irresponsible manner by not obeying social norms, laws and regulations when they get social support
or support from others.

Disobedience in Shakespeares play Romeo And Juliet:

Disloyalty and disobedience have been causes for some of the largest
events in history. Someone's disobedience and disloyalty can cause confusion and breakdown of
society and ultimately end up with death. In William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, almost every
character was disobedient or disloyal at one point in the play. The characters in the play were
disobedient and disloyal because of revenge, hate, and greed.

A character's greed for money, hate for another character, and urge to seek revenge because of death
causes characters in Romeo and Juliet to be disobedient and disloyal. This behaviour is what allows the
plot to move along. Without this, there would be no conflicts or problems for characters to overcome and
solve. All the characters in the play had motive to act disobediently and disloyally. Disobedience and
disloyalty occurs in everyday life from politics to friendships, it's needed for life to proceed and for
people to grow throughout the world.
Civil disobedience in Pakistan:
On August 17, 2014, Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan called for
widespread civil disobedience in Pakistan, urging supporters to stop paying taxes and utility bills in a bid
to oust the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Pakistani opposition politician Imran Khan has
called for a campaign of civil disobedience as he addressed thousands of supporters protesting for a
second day against the government of Nawaz Sharif in Islamabad.