Even though Milgram's research was conducted in the 60s, it is highly likely that the type of obedience witnessed in the study would still happen today, as ABC News' study revealed, even though the society has grown more civilized. This is because such factors as higher levels of perceived prestige and closer proximity to the authority figure are still evident. The young people are more likely to be blindly obedient to the authority because of the fear the two factors exert in them (Blass, 2002). In both experiments, the main factor that kept the subjects going was the absolute authority established in which they "just had to do what they were told." The closer one is to the authority, the more likely they are to be obedient because closeness exerts fear and affirmation of the act. Other factors include the manipulation of the subjects. When the subjects feel intimidated by the authority figure, they are likely to be obedient to receive clemency, or in exchange for a favor.
One of the antecedent conditions for obedience is assigning responsibility to the authority (Borge, 2007). This increases obedience because the subjects believe they do not take the fall, but instead will blame the authority for "making them do it." The participants in the study are similar to the regular population because both groups respect the authority to the point of blindly obeying due to the intimidation of the authority figure, and the affirmation of the act. This being the case, the study can be generalized to the real world in the sense that just as much as cognitive dissonance greatly influenced the results of the survey, our inconsistent thoughts relating to behavioral decisions are in no way better than the participants', and we are bound to follow instructions, no matter the cost to our beliefs. Other social factors that could be attributed to the results include affirmation and the desire to fit in (Livewordcanada, 2011). The participants wanted the approval and validation of the authority and their peers so much that they did not mind hurting others in the process.
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References
Blass, T. (2002). The Man Who Shocked the World. Psychology Today , 35 (2), 68-74.
Borge, C. (2007). Basic instincts: the science of evil. ABC News .
Livewordcanada. (2011). Milgram Obedience Study [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCVlI-_4GZQ
