Dr Frank Ryan considers the role of willpower and working memory in creating lasting psychological change, and the ways in which practitioners can help to maximise these in a psychotherapeutic context.

The Stanford prison experiment demonstrated the power of situational forces over otherwise good people. Transformations are more likely where the social forces are powerful enough to overthrow the attributes of personal morality, compassion, empathy, or a sense of justice. We can change systems and construct situations in which people are trained to act courageously against all forms of evil.