Fiske, Susan T.; Harris, Lasana T; Cuddy, Amy J. C.
Abstract
Initial reactions to the Abu Ghraib events were shock and disgust. How could Americans be doing this to anyone, even Iraqi prisoners of war? Social psychological evidence emphasizes the power of social context; in other words, the power of the interpersonal situation. Virtually anyone can be aggressive if sufficiently provoked, stressed, disgruntled, or hot. The situation of the 800th Military Police Brigade guarding Abu Ghraib prisoners fit all the social conditions known to cause aggression. The soldiers were certainly provoked and stressed and their comrades were dying daily and unpredictably. The fact that the prisoners were part of a group encountered as enemies would only exaggerate the tendency to feel spontaneous prejudice against outgroups. One of the most basic principles of social psychology is that people prefer their own group and attribute bad behavior to outgroups. As every graduate of introductory psychology should know from the Milgram studies, ordinary people can engage in incredibly destructive behavior if so ordered by legitimate authority. In short, ordinary individuals under the influence of complex social forces may commit evil acts.
