ivity. Ethnocentrism - (Baron,Kerr, & Miller, 1992) "a universal strong liking of ones own group and the negative evaluation of out-groups. This ethnocentric bias promotes in-group cohesiveness and out-group antagonism." The in-group -- the Germans saw themselves as virtuous, obedient, and loyal - traits on which all groups typically expect of all the members (Baron, Kerr, Miller, 1992). The German soldiers in their minds were fulfilling their roles.Roles can powerfully influence our actions. Stanley Milgrams taught and conducted research at Yale and Harvard Universities. His study on obedience (1951) were subjects representing ordinary people drawn from various working, managerial, and professional walks of life. The subjects were told the study was a memory and learning experiment. The group included a teacher, learner, and the experimenter. The learner was a confederate, he was planted and actually received no electric shock at all. The teacher was given a sample shock of (75 V). The experimenter wore a white lab coat and the teacher was reluctant to confront the experimenter because the teacher was a subordinate role. Even though the learner was subjected to shock by the teacher and at some point the learner expressed in various tones of voice that he was in pain or no sound at all. However, the teacher in many instances continued because the experimenter urged them to "please continue"; "you must go on." Some teachers experienced nervous laughter others bit their lip. Still, this did not disrupt their role compliance. (Baron, Kerr, & Miller, 1992). The point of the study was to determine when the teacher would refuse to comply with the requirements of his role as obedient research participant. Over 60% of subjects shocked the learner at the maximum voltage of (450 V). The teacher in these cases was considered to be fully obedient (Baron, Kerr, & Miller, 1992). The experiment was duplicated in Munich and the numbers were ...
