When faced with a difficult choice, a person will consider the multitude of different options before making their final decision. Are they making the choice that will benefit them or the choice that will benefit others? Many decisions are made based on the circumstances of the situation a person finds themselves in. If a person is asked, in times of war, to participate in an act, they will participate out of fear of the consequences, even if they do not know it. what are the consequences. In Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland by Christopher Browning, the men of the battalion are faced with many options during their time in the battalion. Choices that include killing Jews by firing squad or transporting Jews to concentration camps. Most of the men in the battalion were hesitant at first, but quickly gave in to the tasks assigned to them. Many of them were ordinary men with no criminal records or thoughts of murder or criminal activity. These same circumstances were used in an experiment by Philip Zimbardo called the Stanford Prison Experiment. The results of his experiment and the battalion's actions are almost exactly the same. Both events had the same internal workings; order of authority, willingness to participate and responsibilities for actions. Each description plays an important role in the overall result. “Our ability to selectively engage and disengage our moral standards… helps explain how people can be barbaric and cruel at one time and compassionate at another (The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil, Philip Zimbardo p.18). This quote from Albert Bandura is an accurate depiction of the men of Police Battalion 101. They started life as usual...... middle of paper ......d Prison Experiment's actions all were carried out on orders and none of it was rebellion. There was rebellion in the prison experience, but there were more dishonest orders than dishonest rebellions. Whenever a person is faced with a difficult decision, they should base their decision on the three characteristics of both groups. Do they have the order so that nothing goes wrong? Do they have the will to act for the cause they are fighting for? Do they have a responsibility to take responsibility for everything they have done? If this is the case, the choice that is made is the best choice possible. Works Cited Browning, Christopher R. Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland. New York: HarperPerennial, 1998. Print. Zimbardo, Philip G. The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil. New York: Random House, 2007. Print.