IN 1968, SOCIAL psychologist Philip Zimbardo conducted a novel experiment. With the assistance of his graduate students from New York University, he bought a used 1959 Oldsmobile and left it on the street in the Bronx, hood up and license plates removed. The same experiment was repeated near the Stanford University campus in Palo Alto, California.

From a hidden position behind a nearby apartment window, Zimbardo and his students continuously monitored the abandoned car in the Bronx. What they observed over the next sixty-four hours astounded them. Within ten minutes, the Oldsmobile encountered its first, and rather unlikely, group of assailants: a family of three – father, mother, and 8-year-old son. While the mother acted as a lookout, the 8-year-old helped his father remove the battery and the radiator. Shortly after, a steady procession of passersby proceeded to remove the air cleaner, radio antenna, windshield wipers, chrome strips, hubcaps, and other sundry parts and accessories. After about nine hours, random destruction of the Oldsmobile began: A couple of laughing teenagers ripped off the rearview mirror and hurled it at the windshield and headlights. Reminiscent of a scene from Lord of the Flies, a group of smaller children began indiscriminately smashing the car's windows and slashing its tires. At the end of the sixty-four hours, the 1959 Oldsmobile was a mere shadow of its former self, a useless carcass of twisted metal, the victim of no less than twenty-three incidents of theft and vandalism.