Ghostbusters? Hmm. Don't remember. I learned about the experiements when I was working on something Holocaust related. Love those movies though. Yum.
But to bring the question back to Ann's initial question, is Clark Kent one of the group of people you describe? Would that character be someone who could kill where the safety of others was not the issue?
I don't believe in absolutes personally, which is what lies behing this--DJ pointed the centrality of this question. If I did, then I wouldn't be able to see Clark as human (and he wouldn't be interesting to me at all). He'd be 100% alien/god to me. But his upbringing and his actions and feelings in the series place him comfortably in the "human" category at least to me (and subject to be capable of violence under extreme pressure/stress be it physical or _emotional_--I think this would fall under emotional). And he's extremely powerful--ultimately it really would depend on how believable the "trigger" is built up to be. It's not something we can take for granted.
For instance if both his parents are brutally murdered or something along those lines and he does not have the support of Lois, I could see him spiralling out of control immeadiately afterwards. Extreme situations like that which also have to be built up in a certain way--so it's not just about event X--reaction X, but rather dealing with the emotional impact in a way that heightens tension, increases outrage etc.
But yes, it's up to the reader. I don't know if someone biased against this would ever be fully convinced.
As I recall that experiment you described, not all the students involved reacted exactly the same way. As well, when interviewed, many of the students said that they believed the situation to be 'safe' because it was under the control of the profs. (yeah, i know "i was only following orders" <g>)
Yes, in both experiments one of the larger issues explored was consent and personal responsibility. Some criticisms levied were that the abusers were acting as they "were expected to." But the results behind these are frightening in terms of what lurks behind some "psychologically stable" facades. The reasons behind the abuses are less interesting to me than the mere fact that "normal" "stable" people were initiating them. It really belies the categories...
