alt Hacker News> By staying silent and letting the memory study fall apart, the experimenter allowed an atmosphere of illegitimate violence to flourish.
Many people are cruel. Not all people, maybe; not most people, also maybe; but some people enjoy hurting others. We see this everywhere. Isn't it possible that this kind of profile jumped on the occasion to inflict pain on people with no fear of repercussions?
In other words, isn't this study just a sort filter to triage / order students from most cruel to less cruel?
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People that have been abused are more likely to abuse others.
If we remove this cycle of abuse, what is the natural rate of humans that will hurt others?
An uncomfortable idea, as victims become perpetrators, it may be best to segregate victims to prevent future abuse and victimization.
No. I highly encourage people to read his book. What you are describing is a classic example of Fundamental Attribution Error - the assumption that people’s actions are primarily the result of some innate trait, versus that of circumstance.
His study plainly shows that most people, in the right circumstances, will act in unimaginably cruel ways.