The Milgram Experiment

Further down the page is a post titled: All humans are potential torturers - Jesse (rockon) Nov 29, '04 11:35 That post contains this link to an article on the subject: http://www.newkerala.com/news-daily/news/features.php?action=fullnews&id=44471

Those findings reinforce the findings of the famous Milgram experiment. The experiment consisted of regular people adminstering what they believed to be life-threatening electric shocks to a "test" subject, who was really an actor. That and subsequent experiments around the world consistently show that about 60% of people will inflict harm on others out of obedience to an authority figure. Here's a link describing the experiment in detail:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment