- You don't know what you would do
unless you're in that situation.
That's not the conclusion of Stanley Milgram
or Phil Zimbardo based on our research,
that's a conclusion
from an assistant manager in McDonald's in Kentucky,
Donna Summers, who was trapped in what has come to be known
as an authority hoax.
A stranger calls up, pretending to be a police officer
saying that one of the employees has stolen something,
has contraband and that what she has to do
is bring the woman to the security room in the back,
strip her naked and search for this contraband,
it sounds like it's drugs or something.
And then at that point,
the guy on the phone, who she believes is a police officer
begins to tell her to do more and more outrageous things.
Finally he asks her to bring in a male
to take care of the situation
'cause she's gotta go back to work,
and this authority hoax guy
this guy pretending to be a police chief,
tells this man to do something
which is horrendous.
We could say this is what's wrong with this guy,
what's wrong with this woman,
if it didn't happen in over 60 other
fast food establishments throughout the country.
So here is the power of authority
to get good people to do bad things.
Not an experiment but in everyday life
throughout the United States.
(ominous music)
- [Narrator] A series of strange events
recently confirmed Milgram's theories about obedience.
Targeting fast food restaurants across the country,
the con man telephoned restaurant managers
and convinced them to strip search
and sometimes sexually abuse their employees.
The mystery is not in the con man, but in the victims,
why would they obey?
- This person was so convincing
that people saw him as a legitimate authority.
I think we have probably the closest thing
that we have to a Milgram experiment today
in these strip searches.
- [Narrator] The most famous of these incidents
took place at a McDonald's in Mount Washington, Kentucky.
- There was a videotape security camera had found,
we didn't hear what the instructions were
but due to the actions that had taken place,
what the victim was doing in the video
and stuff, it was pretty evident
what each instruction was.
- [Narrator] An anonymous caller
pretending to be a police officer
told the assistant manager
that an employee had stolen some money.
- He said "I'm Officer Scott,"
and he said "I'm with the police department
"I'm investigating a complaint."
It went directly from a theft into a drug thing.
So I was asked to search her clothing.
You know he would tell me, take her shoes, click them,
take her shirt, shake it out.
I know how it seems to people,
but you weren't on the phone with him.
The man has convinced 70 to 100 other places
the very same thing.
He's very good at what he does, very good.
(thunder rolling)
He sounded like a police officer,
and I'm thinking okay, I'm doing what I'm supposed to do.
- He was getting some kind of satisfaction
about being an authority figure
and telling people what to do
and then realizing by the phone conversation
that they were actually doing what he said.
- He's telling me
that I needed to get someone to sit with her
while he goes and gets somebody to come in
to pick her up.
- The caller then asked the manager
if she was married or had a boyfriend,
she said she had a fiance,
then the caller asked if she could have her fiance
come to the restaurant
and assist her with the strip search of the victim.
- He says, "Well, why don't you have him come up
"and sit there, I mean you can trust him."
So I called Wes, my fiance,
we were gonna get married,
and asked him if he would come up.
- The manager goes about
doing her duties of running the restaurant
and leaves the fiance there in the office
and then the caller starts giving instructions
over the phone of things
that he wants the victim to do
and what he wants the fiance to tell her to do.
Have her remove her apron
and instructed to do jumping jacks and jog in place
and several more things.
She was still in high school,
the kind of person she was,
she was actually graduating the top 10 in her class
and she was scared of being in trouble with the police
so she sort of just went along
and did whatever the fiance told her to do
because she didn't want to be in trouble for anything.
- During all this time, I'm working.
I'm running the floor, I'm getting change,
and then when I would walk into the office
to get the change or whatever I had to get,
Wes would be sitting where he was when I left
and she was sitting where she was,
and no one said anything.
- [Narrator] After over two and a half hours,
Summers' fiance Walter Nicks,
did something that was unthinkable.
Complying with the instructions of the caller,
he ordered the employee to perform a sexual act.
- And there was no way that I could take away
from what happened to her.
A lot of people you know look at you
and go, "Well you're a nut, you should be strung up."
I've had it even said to me,
God it's really hard because you weren't there.
- The Milgram study showed us
that most people would do that.
If you structure the environment
such that you provide all the authority
and the commands, just anybody might do this.
- But I do think this sounds worse.
- You think this is worse than what Milgram did?
- With the Milgram there was somebody sitting right there
and instructing them if they hesitated they could turn
and then somebody could encourage them
and they could sort of maybe psychologically
leave that responsibility on that other person.
But in this case, the police officer's on the phone,
he's not standing there.
- And that is a very good point.
- You know you look back on it,
you say I wouldn't have done it,
but unless you're put in that situation,
at that time, how do you know what you would do?
You don't, you don't.
- [Narrator] Over 60 other people
did exactly as Donna Summers did.
Why is it so easy for us to obey orders,
even when we know they are wrong?
Why are we willing to inflict pain on others,
if someone else takes responsibility?
- There's nothing more difficult
for people to violate a social structure,
which all participants have initially accepted.
It reminds me of a situation
that once occurred in South America,
I was in an airplane,
the pilot came into the plane, he was drunk,
he was reeling toward the cockpit.
Passengers looked at each other,
but no one got up, no one said to the pilot,
"You're drunk, we can't fly on this plane."
There is a set of pressures
that keep you in the role you've initially accepted.