Humankind: A Hopeful History

In the brief introduction to Part 2, Bregman grapples with a critical question: if humans are innately good, how can atrocities like Auschwitz be explained? This dilemma not only haunted the author but also made German publishers wary. Bregman rejects the idea that those who commit such acts are fundamentally different, noting that the Holocaust occurred in advanced, cultured Germany.

In response to the Holocaust, social psychology emerged in the 1950s and 1960s to study human behavior in extreme conditions. Key experiments by Stanley Milgram, Muzafer Sherif, and Philip Zimbardo examined how situational factors could turn ordinary people into perpetrators of cruelty. Bregman sets the stage for a deeper look into these influential studies, suggesting that their archives now offer an opportunity for better informed review.

Bregman offers a critical reevaluation of the infamous Stanford Prison Experiment, originally conducted by Philip Zimbardo in 1971. The experiment, aimed at investigating the psychological impact of perceived power, quickly descended into chaos. Participants assigned the role of prison guards engaged in sadistic behavior, leading to emotional distress among those playing prisoners. Zimbardo himself became so consumed by his supervisory role that the experiment had to be terminated prematurely. The chapter leans heavily on personal anecdotes and observations, questioning the innate morality or immorality of humans when exposed to environmental stimuli.