What it takes to stand up to authority.

Pedro_P

Most people do what authority figures tell them to – even when they disagree. The reason, it turns out, is hidden in the brain. The good news? It can be changed.

▼ We like to think we’d do the right thing in a tough situation. We’d stand up to our boss when necessary, step in if we saw someone being bullied, and say no if we were asked to do something we felt was wrong. It’s tempting to think we have an innate moral compass that guides our actions, even under pressure from others.
In reality, however, most of us are remarkably bad at standing up to authority. New research is revealing why this is, giving us insight into how the brain deals with – or fails to deal with – these difficult situations. Ultimately, the research could show us how we can train ourselves to become stronger-minded and better able to stick to our guns when needed.
In experiments by social neuroscientist Emilie Caspar at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, volunteers gave each other electric shocks. (The research follows in the footsteps of the notorious experiments of  Stanley Milgramin the 1960s, but in a more ethically and scientifically rigorous way.)
First, participants were asked to administer shocks for a small sum of money (about 5p each time). When a participant was given 60 chances to shock their partner, about half of the time they chose not to. Around 5-10% of people choose not to shock their partner on all 60 opportunities.
Then Caspar stood over the participants and ordered the person giving the shocks to do it. Now, even the participants who didn’t give any shocks previously started to press the button.
I've tested more than 450 participants, and so far only three refused to follow the orders – Emilie Caspar
As soon as Caspar gave orders, the participants’ brain activity also changed, electroencephalogram (EEG) scans showed. In particular, research showed the brain became less  able to process the consequences  of the respondents’ actions. For the vast majority of volunteers, their sense of agency and responsibility started to melt away.
"I've tested more than 450 participants, and so far only three refused to follow the orders," says Caspar. "How are these people different from the others?"
Studies on patients with localised brain damage are helping to answer part of this question. When people have lesions in the prefrontal cortex – the outermost layer of the front part the brain – they appear to be much  more  prone to following orders than the general population.
“They really very readily listen to authorities, and are less able to doubt them,” says Erik Asp, an assistant professor of psychology at Hamline University’s College of Liberal Arts in the US. “That means if an authority figure tells you to hurt someone else, you’re more likely to.”
Protest centre
What is it about this part of the brain that helps us stand up to authority? (▪ ▪ ▪)

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