A guy named Burger recreated a study from 1961 that showed people would inflict pain upon other people at the request of an authority figure.  What surprises me is how surprising it seems.  Maybe it's just because out here in South Florida everyone seems to be an a-hole, I can definately understand how someone would want to do a little torture here and there.  The biggest reason they don't isn't because it's wrong, it's because they don't want to get into more trouble.  An authority figure takes that away.  That being said, I can think of a few people i'd like to sit down for some electric shocks!