Emilie Caspar

It is no longer necessary to establish that human beings will follow immoral orders, even in cold blood. As Howard Zinn pointed out, "historically, the most terrible things - war, genocide, and slavery - have resulted not from disobedience, but from obedience" (Zinn, 1997). Beyond historical events, experimental research has also highlighted the human tendency to obey orders that could cause serious harm to others (Milgram, 1963). Decades after Stanley Milgram's foundational studies, a neuroscientific perspective on obedience has emerged, aiming to understand how obeying orders can pave the way for moral transgressions and antisocial behavior towards others. Highlighting recent research using electrophysiological techniques and neuroimaging, paralleled with interviews conducted with former genocidaires in Rwanda and Cambodia, the main findings indicate that obedience to orders modifies cognitive and affective processes compared to freely decided actions. Recent studies show that rescuers, compared to former genocide perpetrators and bystanders, have an enhanced neural response to the distress of others, which correlate with resistance to orders. These studies aim to provide an understanding of the neural mechanisms associated with moral transgressions under the influence of authority, and the mechanisms that allow to resist it.