This week you read about several experimental and historical examples of when people were observed acting against their own will or conscience, given the right set of circumstances. There are also plenty of historical examples of those in power who took advantage of individuals’ obedience and conformity to social pressures or the pressures of authority.

Select 1 of the social experiments that you read about this week (Zimbardo, Asch, Milgram) and identify a current event or situation that similarly illustrates obedience and conformity. Like the social experiments you studied, the event you choose should also raise questions of ethics.

Write a 1,050- to 1,400-word paper that includes the following:

Compare and contrast the experiment you selected with the contemporary situation.

Identify the social roles of participants and what behaviors reflect those roles. 

Examine the specific behaviors of the participants.

Discuss the internal and external consequences of the participants’ behaviors, for example, shunning, passivity, degradation, and insolence.

Explain how social roles in the contemporary situation resulted in the outcome.

• Describe a realistic alternative scenario that could have resulted in a different, more ethical outcome for this situation. Relate this alternative scenario to a concept in social psychology.