Power of Context

I think that what people do and how they react is greatly affected by their environment, in addition to their own personal inclinations. I was recently reading a summary of a psychological study (Yes, this sort of thing seems to happen often when your father is a psychology professor), the Milgram Experiment, conducted some time ago that looked at the power of context and how far people will go if directed by someone who appears to have authority. I think it seems pretty interesting, so I looked it up. Here's a good summary- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment

After the volunteers were assured that they wouldn't be held responsible for anything that happened, most continued. A tiny miniority didn't so much as question the authority figure, they just kept cranking up the electrical shock level and administering the shocks with seeming determined enjoyment. What does that say about humanity? It's true that most people will follow the directions of an authority figure, even if they're wrong. The experiment was conducted to see if Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann and his accomplices could have just been following orders during the Holocaust, committing millions of atrocities on the orders of their own authority figure.

Milgram, who conducted the experiment, later wrote a book, The Perils of Obedience. In it he said "Ordinary people, simply doing their jobs, and without any particular hostility on their part, can become agents in a terrible destructive process. Moreover, even when the destructive effects of their work become patently clear, and they are asked to carry out actions incompatible with fundamental standards of morality, relatively few people have the resources needed to resist authority."

It's interesting to think about what you yourself might have done in the same circumstances. Strange how people in power can control others so thoroughly.