How Can People Commit Atrocities When They Follow Orders?

Abstract

The human capacity to obey orders, even leading to atrocities, no longer requires proving. As Howard Zinn famously pointed out, “historically, the most terrible things—war, genocide, and slavery—have resulted not from disobedience, but from obedience” (Zinn, 1997). However, the question of “how” people can commit atrocities when they follow orders remains open. Milgram’s studies famously revealed a strong compliance with the orders of the experimenter but such studies only revealed the situational and social factors supporting obedience. They did not enable us to understand how so many people accepted to administer painful and potentially deadly shocks to another person. In the present article, I will contrast qualitative interviews conducted with former perpetrators of genocide in Rwanda and experimental research in neuroscience to attempt to provide a partial answer to this critical question. I will argue that transcending the boundaries of different scientific disciplines is key to a better understanding of how obedience alters prosociality. I will also defend the provocative idea that researchers should take the opportunity to leave their laboratories to study the issue of obedience.