Zimbardo is infamous in my era for certain experiments in groupthink, human dynamics and the definition of evil outside of a religious framework. The Stanford Prison experiment was a prime example. He later refined his work from his early group power dynamics, and uses his work to explain how certain situations can make monters out of otherwise moral men.

I'm not going to go into the whole of his work -- if you're going to warden Natasha, however, you should be familiar with it. I think it can relate. Especially the concept of bad apples and bad barrels.