Half a century ago, social scientist Stanley Milgram carried out a series of experiments. The “teacher” is told to administer electroshocks in progressively more painful degrees to the “learner.” The teacher–unaware that the learner is an actor receiving no shocks at all–is the real focus of the study. These controversial and criticized experiments illustrate how people will obey authority regardless of consequences.

“[Milgram’s] investigations accomplish what we should expect of responsible social science: to inform the intellect without trivializing the phenomenon.”–Science