Hofling Obedience Experiment, Research Paper Example

Subject

The paper involves the study of obedience to the authority. In the experiment, Hofling set out to perform research on obedience. The study sought to determine the likelihood of people obeying instructions from top authorities despite lack of compliance to the stated rules.

Methods

The study involved nurses who were unaware that they were participating in the experiment. During the experiment, Dr. Smith makes a call to all the 22 nurses on different occasions during their shifts to confirm if they have drug astroten. 10 mg of drug astroten was placed in each nurse station, and the nurses were asked to confirm the amount of this drug available in each station. Upon confirmation of the drug presence, the nurses are instructed by Doctor Smith to administer 20 ml of this drug to a patient called Jones since doctor smith was in a hurry and would sign the authorization form later on. The nurses were then placed under observation to see their actions; the drug medication was not real, however the nurses believed it was.

In case any nurse administered the drug, they would be considered to have broken hospital rules: these are:

1. No medical instructions should be accepted over the phone
2. The prescribed dose was twice the stated limit on the box
3. The medicine is unauthorized and is not in the ward list.

Results

In the end, 21 of the 22 nurses fell victims into carrying out the orders, notwithstanding the facts that they medical instructions over phone was illegal, and the prescribed dosage was also twice above the stated prescription. When other nurses (control experiment) were asked what they could have done, they stated that they could not have complied with the orders.

Conclusion

From the above, Hofling demonstrated and concluded that most people are often obedient and willing to perform the executed orders without necessarily questioning the supposed authority even in cases where they have valid reasons to question the same.

Reference

McLeod, S. (2008). Simply Psychology, Obedience. Hofling Obedience experiment, 1(1) 1-4.