Hearing another report of an explosion in the subway or on the street, horrified by the number of victims of military conflicts, among whom are mostly not soldiers, but civilians, we ask ourselves the question: how did this become possible?! What motivates a man who puts on a military uniform and takes the lives of ordinary people - women, old people, children? What motivated the people who tortured and sent thousands of victims to gas chambers during World War II? Are all these people villains and sadists? Or “innocent” executors of someone else’s will and orders? American psychologist Stanley Milgram was able to answer these questions, who conducted and described a shocking experiment that became one of the most famous in social psychology. Not a single study has given science such an understanding of human nature, not a single one has caused so much controversy. The book contains not only a description of this experiment, but also many others that allow you to look into the darkest corners of the human soul, to see what each of us is capable of under the pressure of authority, society, and just spectators. This knowledge will give you an understanding of human nature and will allow you to doubt and say “no” when someone wants to make you a “blind instrument” in their hands. 3rd Special International Edition. The Special International Edition includes in full the sections “Personality” and power" and "Individual and group" from the third edition of the book "The Individual in a Social World. Essays and Experiments.” The original English-language edition also includes sections “Man and the City” and “Man in the Communication Network.”