In this week’s lecture, we briefly discuss the Milgram Studies in relation to authority and its use as a weapon of influence. Another classic psychological experiment often cited with the study of the impacts of authority with compliance is the Stanford Prison Experiment, which you may have covered in other courses during your studies so far. What these studies (and others) have in common is underlined by Cialdini’s claims that authority (whether stated outright, implied indirectly, or assumed) can easily be used against individuals in both a persuasive manner as well as what Perloff would define as coercion. For this week’s activity please complete and answer the following questions

In this week’s lecture, we briefly discuss the Milgram Studies in relation to authority and its use as a weapon of influence. Another classic psychological experiment often cited with the study of the impacts of authority with compliance is the Stanford Prison Experiment, which you may have covered in other courses during your studies so far. What these studies (and others) have in common is underlined by Cialdini’s claims that authority (whether stated outright, implied indirectly, or assumed) can easily be used against individuals in both a persuasive manner as well as what Perloff would define as coercion. For this week’s activity please complete and answer the following questions:
First, find a real-life (can be historical or current) example of an instance when authority was used to influence the behavior or action of another individuals. Note, this does not need to be an example of persuasion and may highlight coercion. I want to challenge you here to look deeply for examples of the use of authority, and not rely on easier/go-to scenarios. Example: We would all agree that Hitler and Mossillini, along with other figures from World War II abused their authority to cause devastating harms. We will begin to look at their rhetoric in the final module. Here I’d like you to find examples or references that require a bit more investigation on your part, and create the possibility of teaching your colleagues about a scenario (historical or current) that they may not know about.
Second, argue whether or not your example is of authority using persuasion or authority using coercion. Be clear with specifics from your chosen example how/why you think it represents appeals to persuasion or coercion. You may return to your notes from the Perloff chapter for a refresher if needed.
Identify either the potential benefits or harms that you see in your example. If your example is historical (meaning already occurred) please identify either the benefits or harms that resulted from the use of authority.