Seminar in Social Psychology: Obedience

The seminar will represent an overview of research and theory in the psychology of "destructive obedience." Using Milgram's groundbreaking series of obedience experiments (August 1961 - May 1962) and the international replications that followed as our points of departure, we will address the ethical, conceptual, and methodological controversies engendered by these studies and their implications for issues in the Holocaust research, moral philosophy, and contemporary politics. While obedience is the main focus, we will venture into other staples of psychological research of that era such as conformity, brutality, and bystander apathy.

Course is limited to 14 students. Department permission is required. Preference given to senior psych majors.