Individual obedience to someone depends largely upon what that individual has to risk if disobedient. We would all like to think that that we would never succumb to the kind of peer pressure that would cause us to harm others; however it's hard to predict how we will react when such a situation arises.
Stanley Milgram, a Yale psychologist conducted a study in 1963 at various Ivy university's to find out if otherwise normal people would succumb to pressures, which would cause them to inflict pain upon others when authority's sanctioned it. Milgram's experiment was designed to force participants to either ignore their conscience by obeying immoral demands of an authority figure or to refuse those demands. His study concluded that depending upon the person and situation most people will inflict pain on others when they know they will not be held morally or legally accountable, especially if they have something to gain or lose. In many cases people will carry out cruel and unusual behavior at the will of a higher authority and not feel remorse; mentally they may justify their actions as not being of their own will. Milgram finally concluded "that under a special set of circumstances the obedience we naturally show authority figures could transform us into agents of terror. .
Doris Lessing, a novelist, well known for her Five Short Novels (1954), and The Golden Notebook (1962). States in her thesis, that Americans particularly living in western societies tend to claim their individuality vigorously, yet often are the first group of people to follow a common crowd. In other words people in general live their lives in-groups (i.e.) family units. Most are often comfortable in an atmosphere where similar ideas or beliefs are shared. Seeing how humans reside, it's a natural instinct to have a need to feel accepted. In fact the average American can't stand to be alone for long. There for you may see how naturally someone would modify or sacrifice their beliefs in order to be accepted.
