From Robert Cialdini’s “Influence”
Authority Principle
When people see an “Authority” figure, they tend not to question them, and simply follow their orders. People underestimate the power of Authority.
- Milgram sets up an experiment. There is a subject who must answer questions. If he answers the question wrong, he will get shocked. Each time the subject answers the question incorrectly, he will get shocked and the voltage will increase. The subject answers many questions incorrectly. The voltage gets so high, the subject said he can’t take the pain anymore. The person giving the shocks doesn’t stop giving shocks. Why? This is because follow orders due to the Authority Principle. The power of Authority is stronger than his own conscience.
- In 1987 three men were against US military shipments and protested by laying their bodies on a railroad track. They notified the Navy in advance their plans. The crew on the train were instructed not to stop the train. The train accelerated and even when they could see the men, they didn’t stop. One of the men, Mr Wilson, got his legs crushed under the train. Mr. Wilson didn’t blame the crew. He felt they were simply following Authority.
- “authority figures now appear as employers, judges, and government leaders. Because their positions speak of superior access to information and power, it makes great sense to comply with the wishes of properly constituted authorities. It makes so much sense, in fact, that we often do so when it makes no sense at all.” (p. 218)
- Nurses don’t object to Doctors orders even though Doctors may have given the wrong order. A Doctor instructed the nurse to put ear drops into R Ear, but she thought it said rear and put drops into someone’s anus!
- An Actor who plays a doctor on TV, was asked to make commercials for caffeine free coffee. People think the actor is a real doctor. Since a doctor has Authority, they believe what he saids.
- People think Professors are taller due to their Authority. People talk to a Professor differently once they find out he’s a professor.
- Clothing and titles show Authority. People respond to people dressed like doctors, professors, priests, and businessmen. An experiment was done showing a man wearing a nice suit, and a man wearing a shirt. When the man with a nice suit illegally crossed the street, other people were more likely to follow him.
- When there is a luxury car on front of another driver, they are more patient waiting for them to go ahead during a green light.
- “As in Milgram’s research, the midwestern hospital-nurses’ study, and the security-guard-uniform experiment, people were unable to predict correctly how they or others would react to authority influence. In each instance, the effect of such influence was grossly underestimated. This property of authority status may account for much of its success as a compliance device. Not only does it work forcefully on us, but it also does so unexpectedly.” (p. 229)
Other Good Quotes:
“Is this authority truly an expert?” The question is helpful because it focuses our attention on a pair of crucial pieces of information: the authority’s credentials and the relevance of those credentials to the topic at hand. By orienting in this simple way toward the evidence for authority status, we can avoid the major pitfalls of automatic deference.” (p. 230)
“That is why the “Is this authority truly an expert?” question can be so valuable: It brings our attention to the obvious. It channels us effortlessly away from a focus on possibly meaningless symbols to a consideration of genuine authority credentials.” (p. 231)
“Suppose, though, we are confronted with an authority we determine is a relevant expert. Before submitting to authority influence, it would be wise to ask a second simple question: “How truthful can we expect the expert to be here?”