History is littered with examples of normal people being persuaded to act in deviant, criminal or irrational ways. How do you persuade someone to do something they would not normally be prepared to do? Some people might think of hypnosis. However, hypnosis isnt really what it appears to be. Its only a kind of play acting and no one would carry out an instruction to really commit a robbery any more than theyd murder someone if they were told to.