Compliance to a fault

Posted by thecollective 11 years, 7 months ago to Philosophy
5 comments | Share | Best of... | Flag

I'm having trouble finding the name of a concept / theory that I believe is housed in some school of psychology, I'm hoping someone here can help me out.

It's the concept of doing what you're instructed to do, regardless of the fact that you know it is incorrect, in order to prove the premise is incorrect. I seem to remember it was included as some form of noncompliance or nonviolent protest. To sum it up in plain English, it's the idea of doing what you're told even when you know it will cause a problem, because you've been told to just do as you're told and not to think for yourself - you don't fight the order and comply, in order to prove the fact that it's wrong and willfully let it fail.

"Give them everything they want and all of it they can handle."


Add Comment

FORMATTING HELP

All Comments Hide marked as read Mark all as read

  • Posted by ogr8bearded1 11 years, 7 months ago
    malicious obedience. I did this one time at Sbarro's Pizza when my promised raise didn't appear on my check after 2 months.

    Rules said you had to have a certain number of pizzas made per hour based on sale with a minimum at all times. They had to be thrown away and fresh ones made every 30 minutes, pepperoni rolls hit the trash every 20 minutes.

    After doing this for a while one of the other employees asked the manager if he was going to do something about all the food I was throwing away and he said "Do what? He's following the book exactly."
    Reply | Mark as read | Best of... | Permalink  
    • Posted by khalling 11 years, 7 months ago
      this just seems so.....malicious.
      the worst I've ever done, was one time for a micro-manager, I stopped doing anything until I received the next instruction. The situation would correct for a while, then revert.
      Reply | Mark as read | Parent | Best of... | Permalink  
  • Posted by Lucky 11 years, 7 months ago
    A term used in the 'soft sciences' for the person who believes in rank is' authoritarian personality'. It means follow orders from those above without thinking about the worth of the instruction. There is merit in this in limited situations such as the military but otherwise is the opposite of the best of thinking for the past few hundred years since the 'enlightenment'. .
    Reply | Mark as read | Best of... | Permalink  
  • Posted by 11 years, 7 months ago
    There's actually a Latin name for it which is used to describe it in surveys of philosophy, but it's driving me mad that I can't think of it.

    I work in an environment that is frequently dominated by the "You're paid to do, not to think" mentality, so this topic of discussion comes up frequently in watercooler chit-chat ;-)
    Reply | Mark as read | Best of... | Permalink  

FORMATTING HELP

  • Comment hidden. Undo