In 1971, Philip Zimbardo put 24 students in a mock prison; the “guards” turned cruel and the study was stopped after six days. But archives and recordings show the guards were encouraged to act tough, and the tiny study, with no control group, falls short of the standards of a real experiment. A gripping story, not proof.
Remembering is not replaying a recording — it is rebuilding. Each time you recall a memory, it becomes temporarily malleable and can be altered before being stored again. That is why two people can sincerely remember the same event… differently.
In 2003, Johnson and Goldstein compared European countries. Where you must tick a box to become a donor, consent rates ranged from 4% to 28%. Where you're a donor by default unless you opt out, they topped 85%. People aren't more generous on one side; most simply stick with whatever option was chosen for them.