Neuroticism and Negative Affect Influence the Reluctance to Engage in Destructive Obedience in the Milgram Paradigm

Authors

Virgil Zeigler-Hill, Oakland UniversityFollow
Ashton C. Southard, University of Southern MississippiFollow
Lindsey M. Archer, University of Southern Mississippi
Patrick L. Donohoe, University of Southern Mississippi

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-1-2013

Department

Psychology

Abstract

The present study employed a variation of Milgram's (1963,1965,1974) obedience paradigm that required undergraduate participants (N=33) to administer noise blasts rather than electric shocks. We found that the individuals who were the most reluctant to obey the commands of the experimenter to continue with the procedure were those with low levels of neuroticism who reported the highest levels of negative affect during the session. This suggests that our procedure may offer a relatively benign means for examining the mechanisms underlying destructive obedience as well as individual differences in the willingness to obey authority.

Publication Title

Journal of Social Psychology

Volume

153

Issue

2

First Page

161

Last Page

174

Recommended Citation

Zeigler-Hill, V., Southard, A. C., Archer, L. M., Donohoe, P. L. (2013). Neuroticism and Negative Affect Influence the Reluctance to Engage in Destructive Obedience in the Milgram Paradigm. Journal of Social Psychology, 153(2), 161-174.
Available at: https://aquila.usm.edu/fac_pubs/7804