Philip G. Zimbardo

Discusses why people are susceptible to the power of evil, the ability of group dynamics and situational pressures to transform human behavior, the significance of disobedience, and the true nature of heroism.

Understanding how Good People Turn Evil

The Lucifer Effect

High Fidelity

Malleus Maleficarum, or “The Witches’ Hammer.”8 It was required reading for the Inquisition judges. It begins with a conundrum to be solved: How can evil continue to exist in a world governed by an all-good, all-powerful God? One answer: God allows it as a test of men’s souls. Yield to its temptations, go to Hell; resist its temptations, and be invited into Heaven. However, God restricted the Devil’s direct influence over people because of his earlier corruption of Adam and Eve. The Devil’s solution was to have intermediaries do his evil bidding by using witches as his indirect link to people they would corrupt. To reduce the spread of evil in Catholic countries, the proposed solution was to find and eliminate witches. What was required was a means to identify witches, get them to confess to heresy, and then destroy them.

It is when power is wedded to chronic fear that it becomes formidable. —Eric Hoffer, The Passionate State of Mind

Japanese soldiers butchered between 260,000 and 350,000 Chinese civilians in just a few bloody months of 1937.

Stanford University in the summer of 1971 were mirrored in the real guards and real prison in the Iraq of 2003.

“Another way of looking at it is, you’re putting good people in an evil situation to see who or what wins.”

In a disturbing and revelatory exploration of the human capacity for evil, renowned psychologist Zimbardo examines how everyone is susceptible to the power of malevolence. He also offers hope and guidance, elucidating the importance of true heroism and disobedience.

How Good People Turn Evil

Flavia Louise

Really interesting book but quite long and not quite honest about the SPE at all points

I think it was a really good look at the Stanford Prison Experiment. The experiment itself had tons of issues that make me wonder why it has stayed so popular in psychology classes. I think it is widely mistaught as a show of what power does to people, when it should really be an example of how not to run an experiment. 

The biggest issue I had was that Zimbardo either decided or was told that he needed more pages, so he went off on a tangent about the Iraq/Iran mistreatment of prisoners. And that isn't to say it isn't relevant to his work. It is probably the closest situation I ok what he created in the SPE. It just got railroaded with some politics and then he tried to end on a "positive note" about heroism. He could have easily cut 100+ pages and said the same thing.

Worth a read if you're into criminology, psychology, or want a look at what might have caused some of the atrocious behavior with those prisoners.

The Lucifer Effect Understanding how Good People Turn Evil

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