> … offers convincing evidence that the guards in the experiment were coached to be cruel. This was the point of the experiment. That simply coaching people in

> … offers convincing evidence that the guards in the experiment were coached to be cruel. This was the point of the experiment. That simply coaching people in banal ways to be cruel caused them to be cruel. Yes the study participants were just doing what they thought the scientists wanted to see… exactly as many humans do in many human organizations. Perhaps the guards believed deep down there was no real danger to the prisoners. Exactly as many people assume about civil society and the social safety net. How many people would do things that are quite evil or disastrous to another human’s life if instructed to do so by a company’s performance management system, at risk of losing their job? Remember the context in the early 70s was the relatively recent discovery of the Nazi’s unimaginably cruel treatment of people, and the unknown question of what could cause humans to behave that way. It turns out, just some authoritative instructions. Worth reading the original PIs 2018 response to recent criticism in full. Well written. https://www.prisonexp.org/response https://www.prisonexp.org/response