Influence of Authority

Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib prison was the location of a military abuse scandal in 2004, during the American: Operation Iraqi Freedom. American military soldiers were accused of crimes of abuse, neglect, and intense rage against the Iraqi prisoners. Photos of the abuse brought further shame toward the American military personnel responsible for the prison. Individual’s response displayed similar behaviors as studied in both the Stanford Prison and the Milgram shock experiments. "At root, the fundamental point is that tyranny does not flourish because perpetrators are helpless and ignorant of their actions. It flourishes because they actively identify with those who promote vicious acts as virtuous.” (Haslam) The abuse and neglectful behavior, which occurred during American involvement in Iraq, raises questions regarding the higher influences of authority, and the natural tendency toward obedience, regardless of the circumstances.

The various crimes which occurred in Iraq hold many comparisons to previous wars and American events. In her work, "The Tortured Body, the Photograph, and the U.S. War on Terror," Julie Hernandez wrote an article regarding the atrocities allegedly performed by the military personnel at the prison to the captive men, and women. Hernandez makes the analysis: "The U.S. re-embodies itself around the Abu Ghraib scandal, swallowing most of the evidence and appearing even more righteous and fortified than before; what remains in the official wake are emasculating images of the alleged terrorists." Her paper examines the documentation from Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Civil War era. She indicates that the lines crossed over by the United States are regularly ignored through the advancement of control and power. The US will always feel a level of higher promotion over all countries and enemies of freedom and peace. People in position of higher authority understand their personal duty to perform at their best.

Among the other factors relating to the abuse at Abu Ghraib is the lack of proper leadership. The commanding officer who should have been on sight keeping everyone in line with proper conduct was rarely seen at the prison. Other officials have testified to a lack of clear direction leaving the soldiers to assume the conduct was considered approved upon. This form of leadership has social and organizational effects on the attitude of all individuals. The proper influencing forces were highly lacking (Bartone). There may have also been a lack of training and overall poor discipline in the standard of behavior.  Essentially the lack of standards of conduct laws, regulations, and orders were the major problems. With no clear direction or encouragement from higher powers, morals quickly dissipate. "If soldiers lose the conviction that their daily work is making an important contribution to a larger, positive mission, they can become alienated and detached from their surroundings.” (Bartone)  

            In his work “The Perils of Obedience,” Stanley Milgram states: “For many people obedience is a deeply ingrained behavior tendency, indeed a potent impulse overriding training in ethics, sympathy, and moral conduct.” (631) By nature, people are understanding of rank, position, authorities and the rights of those in command to have respect. When the events of the Iraq Prison scandal at Abu Gharib were bought to the attention of national media, they horrified everyone. A major lack of positive authority is nearly as bad as the presence of a negative authority pushing the same question of moral code. Haslam and Reicher wrote an article describing Milgram’s experiment, “Contesting the ‘‘Nature’’ Of Conformity: What Milgram and Zimbardo’s Studies Really Show.” The authors state, "All participants proved willing to administer shocks of 300 V and 65% went all the way to 450 V. This appeared to provide compelling evidence that normal well-adjusted men would be willing to kill a complete stranger simply because they were ordered to do so by an authority.” (Haslam) Stanley Milgram placed one person in authority, and one who was giving commands under the guise of the betterment of science. Milgram summed up his experiment as designed, “to see how far a person will proceed in a concrete and measurable situation in which he is ordered to inflect increasing pain on a protesting victim.”(Milgram 632)

The Stanford Prison Experiment gave people the chance to behave in an authoritative position with the absence of a higher power in command. Zimbardo who was in charge of the experiment influenced the guards to the point of advising them to do whatever they had to do to make the prisoners feel helpless. Zimbardo’s conclusion from this, was even more alarming than Milgram’s. People descend into tyranny, he suggested, because they conform unthinkingly to the toxic roles that authorities prescribe without the need for specific orders: brutality was ‘‘a ‘natural’ consequence of being in the uniform of a ‘guard’ and asserting the power inherent in that role (Haslam). Milgram's study on the other hand was more about people believing in the importance of the scientific experiment. Direct orders were given, but they were given under the guise of what is best for further understanding human behavior.

Out of the scandal of the Baghdad prison came the realization that a lack of positive influences has a detrimental effect on the actions of the individuals left in command. The response to the Stanford prison experiment in a similar way displayed how groups of people in a social setting will conform to certain acceptable behavior to justify the means of maintaining control. Milgram’s experiments further shows how, for the benefit of science, people will obey orders through the understanding of the overall benefit

Positive influences are essential in maintaining social and ethical order in the world. Negative influencers have the opposite effect and tend to create destructive behavior. Individuals are prone toward obedience even to the point of committing atrocities. Ethics and morality are trumped by authority and command. History has seen its share of leaders being obeyed, resulting in the death of millions. Such crimes during World War II involved the German Nazi military. Soldiers listened to the commands of officials and followed through out of respectful obedience. Nazi commanders not only believed what they were doing was right but also desired to go beyond expectations to please their commanders. Situations do not drive men to commit immoral acts as much as they are driven by approval of those acts (Haslam). Individuals are capable of whatever they believe is for the overall benefit of mankind.

            Immoral and unethical actions are brought upon by negative influences surrounding the individuals. With the Stanford prison experiment the events showed how dangerous it can be to allow people with twisted moral views, the ability to have control over others. Stanford predicted the same kind of crimes done in the Iraq prison by showing how easy it is for men and women to fall in line with social crimes against other people. Milgram’s experiments taught the same lessons of morality versus obedience to authority. Each of these events showed the same basic lessons of authority and influence. There is a natural tendency toward obeying a higher authority beyond the self. The reason war crimes, and other abuses of humanity occur is that good influences cease from speaking louder than the negative and evil influences. Both kinds of influences hold power and authority, and the evil must not be allowed to go unchecked in our society. In order to maintain a structured, healthy growing society it is imperative for everyone to direct themselves toward the positive influences and hold onto a higher moral code of conduct to rise above such terrible capabilities of mankind.

Works Cited

Bartone, Paul T. "Lessons of Abu Ghraib: Understanding and Preventing Prisoner Abuse in          Military Operations." Defense Horizons. November 2008.

Haslam SA, Reicher SD (2012) Contesting the ‘‘Nature’’ Of Conformity: What Milgram and Zimbardo’s Studies Really Show. School of Psychology, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Australia. PLoS Biology (Impact Factor: 12.69). 11/2012; 10(11):e1001426. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1001426. Source: PubMed

Hernandez, Julie Gerk. "The Tortured Body, the Photograph, and the U.S. War on Terror."

CLCWeb: ComparativeLiterature and Culture 9.1 (2007): http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/clcweb/vol9/iss1/8.

Milgram, Stanley. “The Perils of Obedience.” Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum. 12^th ed. Ed. Laurence Behrens and Leonard J. Rosen. Boston: Pearson, 2013. 631-643. Print.