15 Reasons Why People Obey Without Question
The psychology of obedience is fascinating. These are fifteen reasons why people obey without question.
Why do people obey rules without question? Many people blindly follow and are obedient without question. These are fifteen reasons why people obey without question.
Psychology Of Obedience
There are many reasons why people obey. The psychology of obedience is built into human behavior. People are naturally social creatures. There are different reasons why people think they must obey. There are external pressures that encourage people to conform and follow. There are also social and internal influences that can make people obedient.
The three most common are societal, social, and internal pressures that make people obey.
Societal Pressures
Six societal influences train people to obey others rather than think for themselves.
Raised To Obey
Parents raise children to obey, and they are often not taught to distinguish when disobeying is okay. People are taught from a young age to defer to others simply because they are older, teach, have fancy titles by their name, or are in a position of authority. This trains people from early on that there are people who are better than them merely because they have a position of authority that society has arbitrarily deemed worthy of respect.
However, once you mature and start to ask critical questions, you may discover that those that popular culture tells you to respect are the most unworthy of recognition.
Education System
Starting from a young age, people are taught to obey without question. This often begins in kindergarten and continues up to the higher education system. They are told to respect teachers. The education system trains people to get ready to become employees. They are told what they must do to do well in a class. Students think that doing well on quizzes and tests to please their teachers and professors means they will do well in life. This creates obedient and conformist people rather than individuals who can think for themselves and do things independently without instructions.
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Religion
Religion plays a role in obedience. If someone believes that disobeying is often considered wrong if they do something immoral, they become concerned that they have sinned or angered the deity or deities that are part of their religion. They fear being condemned in the afterlife for disobeying.
Rather than being able to see certain things in shades of grey, everything becomes black and white. Right and wrong. If they do something wrong such as disobeying someone in a position of authority, they think they have committed a sinful act that whichever deity they may worship condemns. Disobeying means they are not living a virtuous life which could have implications for them after they die.
Status Quo Bias
Some people need help dealing with or do not like change. This means that someone will stick to the status quo in one’s daily life or when it comes to more significant societal issues. People obey rules without question because they know that if they depart from what is established, they may be viewed as disobedient or even break the law.
There is little to nothing to lose when someone always tries to follow the rules. Some people want to do everything by the books and follow the same routines and rules because it is a safe choice.
Surveillance State
The surveillance state intrudes into the everyday lives of ordinary people. When you know everything you do is on record, you are likelier to obey and follow the rules without question. With all the data collected about people today with the Internet and digital records, you know that your actions, voice, fingerprints, and face are in a database somewhere. Anything about you that you may say that goes against the status quo could be used against you at any time.
Laws And Regulations
Laws and regulations can also contribute to making people obey. Many people don’t want to be seen as breaking the law, yet the United States is the most regulated country in the world.
The coercion from laws, regulations, and mandates uses the psychological tool of reward power. People obey and follow the rules because they want to be rewarded for their good behavior.
An example is not jaywalking across the street when no car is coming because you are worried you will get a ticket.
Many people who don’t want to break the law unknowingly do break the law. The average American breaks three laws a day. It is ridiculous to aim to be an excellent upright model citizen.
There is nothing wrong with questioning authority, and it can be healthy to disobey. Question authority and think for yourself. You can take back your life today by not always obeying and letting people control you. You are the one responsible for your life, no one else.
Psychological Pressures
Psychology plays a role in obedience. These are three everyday psychological pressures that make people obey.
Agentic State
The Agentic State is when you allow other people to direct your behaviors and then pass on the responsibility for your behavior to the person who gave you the orders. The most famous example is the Milgram Experiment which was made famous by Stanley Milgram.
People will most often blindly obey someone merely because they are wearing a white coat, hold a fancy title, or are in an authority position. The Milgram Experiment proved this to be the case. People blame those who order them to do something rather than accept responsibility for their actions. This is the “I was just following orders” excuse.
Helper Syndrome
Helper syndrome is the “feeling of being needed and having to sacrifice and give up is a central part of the helper syndrome.” You always make personal sacrifices for yourself or the benefit of society. Someone with helper syndrome will ignore their need to help others, even if it negatively affects them. Someone with helper syndrome will often be dependent on dependent on others. Someone who suffers from helper syndrome will even refuse to help oneself.
A person with helper syndrome often has low self-esteem, meaning they will obey, and this is because they lack the self-confidence to stand up for themselves.
Intelligent Disobedience
The more ignorant you are more likely you are to obey without thinking. This is because you will not look into the rules or problems further than you are told. When you educate yourself, you can review regulations, laws, and policies and arrive at your own conclusions.
Intelligent disobedience is when you learn about a problem and disobey to attempt to resolve the issue. The Internet has made a wide range of information available to people to learn about issues. People can reach their conclusions about a topic or problem with that information. People can become a part of a group or movement that is working to correct a wrong or a societal problem.
Civil disobedience against a government law or policy has happened throughout history, from Gandhi to Martin Luther King Jr to the Women’s Rights Movement.
Social Pressures
Many aspects of social settings can make people compliant. These are four everyday pressures that you experience when you are around others.
Peer Pressure
Peer pressure is a common problem for many people. It is especially problematic for younger people who want to join the cool kids’ group. People want to be accepted by others, and many enjoy being part of a group.
You are among other students, so you feel the pressure to be like the other students or to do better than other students in specific ways to impress someone. You conform to the other students because you fear being an outcast. You are scared to question ideas or do things that will prevent you from being accepted by your fellow students.
Some people require being accepted by others or want to be popular. Those people will succumb to social pressure to join the group.
Social Conformity
On a larger scale is the problem with social conformity. This is peer pressure on a societal scale. You want to conform to whatever is popular, or the mainstream is presenting to you. It could be ideas or the latest cool gadget that everyone wants.
You may go along with specific ideas presented as popular at the time. You don’t want to be a social outcast when you meet people at events you attend. The thoughts and beliefs are messaged as being what most people believe. You will comply with these ideas to fit in with people in society.
Consumerism can also play a role in social conformity. People will watch the latest show streaming on Netflix or Amazon Prime that everyone is talking about. People like buying the latest iPhone or the largest television to show off to friends and family. This also happens in fashion, where people want to keep up with the latest trends. They will buy the newest dress, jeans, swimsuit, or fashion accessories to think they are a trendsetter. This is another show of social conformity, but in the wanting to keep up the Joneses and Kardashians way. You then get to be the person with the latest gadget until it becomes outdated in a year, and the new product is out. Some people will then buy the latest version to be viewed as trendy.
Want To Get Along With Everyone
Some people think that they can get along with everyone. They will do whatever it takes to get along with someone, even with someone they disagree with. These people compromise because they want people to think they are nice and not get into arguments or other things that society looks down on.
People Pleasing
Most people want to be seen in a positive light by others. To do this, they think they must always please others. They will please people who they do not even know, and they will talk nicely about someone. Their main goal is to charm people for no reason. People pleasers often suffer from being overly friendly and unable to stand up for themselves. That comes from lacking self-esteem and self-confidence.
Internal Pressures
You may not correctly manage yourself, which allows you to succumb to obeying others. These are two typical internal pressures that can lead you to be compliant.
External Validation
You may receive your validation from other people instead of from yourself. This is common because society wrongly brainwashes people to think self-interest is terrible. When you get your validation from others, you likely are overly helpful, a people pleaser, and believe you must get along with everyone.
Low Self-Confidence
You experience low self-confidence. When you lack self-confidence, you won’t be sure of yourself. You will allow others to tell you what to do. You will do as you are told and obey because you do not believe in yourself.
Self-confidence is critical to development because it can help in others areas of life, but many people never develop it. Once you are confident, you can go on to achieve your goals.
Solutions
Don’t be afraid to disobey when it is in your self-interest.
You don't need to follow blindly.
You can stop going along with the crowd.
You can work to develop internal validation.
You can increase your self-confidence.
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Summary
There are many reasons why people choose to obey without question, ranging from being raised to obey parents and respect elders to social conformity and low self-confidence. There are times when disobedience is the right thing to do. Blindly following others without thinking makes you merely a cog in the machine. You become an unthinking robot which means that you can easily be manipulated by people you perceive to have a position of authority.
You can start to think for yourself and question authority.
Become a secure single.
Hours of time, effort, and research went into making this 11-minute read. If you found the article helpful, you can help Secure Single’s Substack by clicking the heart button and sharing this article.
Views expressed in this article are the author's opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of Secure Single. It is intended for informational and educational purposes only. It is not investment, financial, or legal advice. Consult with a financial or legal professional before making investment or legal decisions. James Bollen is the author of Thriving Solo: How to Flourish and Live Your Perfect Life (Without A Soulmate). It is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.
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