The experiment attempted to show what mechanisms cause abuse like Abu Ghraib to happen. The theory was that the power disparity in a prison in itself lead to ab

The experiment attempted to show what mechanisms cause abuse like Abu Ghraib to happen. The theory was that the power disparity in a prison in itself lead to abuse and not individual personality traits of the abusers. This apparently have not been proven. Other explanations are possible. For example that it was actually deliberate policy to abuse prisoners and that the guards sympathized with this policy. As for the Nazi concentration camps it is important to realize that not everyone were treated equally bad. For example prisoners of war from USSR where treated much worse then prisoners from the western allies. This cannot be explained the Zimbardos theory, but can be explained by deliberate policy and Nazi ideology.