Under the Shadows of Authority: Unveiling Age and Gender Disparities in Obedience

Abstract

Why is it that many people obey when they feel coerced? People focus so much on being good followers that they become unaware of the consequences of their actions. Various experiments about “obedience to authority” have been taken place in the past decades. Stanley Milgram, a social psychologist conducted his famous obedience experiments in the early 1960s. His aim was to study the willingness of participants to obey authority figures, even when it involved harmful actions against others. The current study aimed to investigate the difference of age and gender differences in relation to obedience to authority. Age factor was not examined in Milgram’s original experiment. The research regarding age differences in obedience is suggestive of demarcation in level of obedience. This work aims to show a new way to understand gender difference in obedience, and wish to open a gate of age differences in obedience study. Are males more likely to obey to authority? Will gender affect obedience ? The research in existence is mixed point of view in relation to males and females related to obedience. Thus with this aim in mind present study was carried out on 150 working employees ( Non-teaching staff); males (n=75) and females (n=75), with the age range of 34-64 (M=40.88 age), (SD=5.37); early middle age (34–44) and late middle age (45- 64) across Punjabi University, Patiala. The aim of the study was to investigate the difference between age, gender and obedience, examining whether obedience vary across different age groups and gender wise. The Organizational Obedience Scale (Capan & Uzuncarsili, 2022) was administered to the working staff with the Cronbach alpha is .79. The questionnaire was translated into native language Punjabi and was certified and validated by the experts (Dept. of Psychology, Punjabi University, Patiala) with the reliability of .78. The obtained data was analysed with the latest version IBM SPSS 29. The data collected was analysed with descriptive analysis, and t- test. There was significant differences in scores of male and female on the basis of obedience. Another findings there was significant difference due to age in obedience. Later middle aged people more obey. By examining the interplay between age, gender, and obedience, this work aims to inform develop interventions that mitigate potential risks associated with destructive obedience.