The 'obedience to authority' test done by Milgram. Basically, he'd bring in some volunteers, assign one to be the 'teacher' who would ask questions and push a button that (was supposed to, but did not actually) gives an electric shock to the 'student'. Progressively, the shocks would seem to go from nothing, to ouch, to screams and pleading from the 'student'. Yet the 'teacher' would continue the test when commanded to by Milgram. He thought that perhaps it was his title as a respected psychologist with a Harvard degree that caused people to continue (believing that they were) hurting others just because he told them to, so he re-did the experiment posing as a community college professor with the same results.
People wonder how something like the Holocaust could happen, but he proved that it's simple--people follow orders, all you need is the wrong bunch giving the orders and horrible things can happen.
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