May 11, 2007

The 1970s and Today, in Academic Research and in War

To the Editor:

As Philip G. Zimbardo reports, many studies — including his Stanford prison experiment and the classic Milgram obedience experiment — have shown that pressure from authorities, peers, and degrading situations often lead normally good persons to behave inhumanely ("Revisiting the Stanford Prison Experiment: a Lesson in the Power of Situation," The Chronicle Review, March 30). The cruelty of young Americans at My Lai, in Vietnam, and at Abu Ghraib, in