The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil
- ISBN-10
- 0812974441
- ISBN-13
- 9780812974447
- Series
- The Lucifer Effect
- Category
- Psychology
- Pages
- 576
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2008-01-22
- Publisher
- Random House Trade Paperbacks
- Author
- Philip Zimbardo
Description
The definitive firsthand account of the groundbreaking research of Philip Zimbardo—the basis for the award-winning film The Stanford Prison Experiment Renowned social psychologist and creator of the Stanford Prison Experiment Philip Zimbardo explores the mechanisms that make good people do bad things, how moral people can be seduced into acting immorally, and what this says about the line separating good from evil. The Lucifer Effect explains how—and the myriad reasons why—we are all susceptible to the lure of “the dark side.” Drawing on examples from history as well as his own trailblazing research, Zimbardo details how situational forces and group dynamics can work in concert to make monsters out of decent men and women. Here, for the first time and in detail, Zimbardo tells the full story of the Stanford Prison Experiment, the landmark study in which a group of college-student volunteers was randomly divided into “guards” and “inmates” and then placed in a mock prison environment. Within a week the study was abandoned, as ordinary college students were transformed into either brutal, sadistic guards or emotionally broken prisoners. By illuminating the psychological causes behind such disturbing metamorphoses, Zimbardo enables us to better understand a variety of harrowing phenomena, from corporate malfeasance to organized genocide to how once upstanding American soldiers came to abuse and torture Iraqi detainees in Abu Ghraib. He replaces the long-held notion of the “bad apple” with that of the “bad barrel”—the idea that the social setting and the system contaminate the individual, rather than the other way around. This is a book that dares to hold a mirror up to mankind, showing us that we might not be who we think we are. While forcing us to reexamine what we are capable of doing when caught up in the crucible of behavioral dynamics, though, Zimbardo also offers hope. We are capable of resisting evil, he argues, and can even teach ourselves to act heroically. Like Hannah Arendt’s Eichmann in Jerusalem and Steven Pinker’s The Blank Slate, The Lucifer Effect is a shocking, engrossing study that will change the way we view human behavior. Praise for The Lucifer Effect “The Lucifer Effect will change forever the way you think about why we behave the way we do—and, in particular, about the human potential for evil. This is a disturbing book, but one that has never been more necessary.”—Malcolm Gladwell “An important book . . . All politicians and social commentators . . . should read this.”—The Times (London) “Powerful . . . an extraordinarily valuable addition to the literature of the psychology of violence or ‘evil.’”—The American Prospect “Penetrating . . . Combining a dense but readable and often engrossing exposition of social psychology research with an impassioned moral seriousness, Zimbardo challenges readers to look beyond glib denunciations of evil-doers and ponder our collective responsibility for the world’s ills.”—Publishers Weekly “A sprawling discussion . . . Zimbardo couples a thorough narrative of the Stanford Prison Experiment with an analysis of the social dynamics of the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.”—Booklist “Zimbardo bottled evil in a laboratory. The lessons he learned show us our dark nature but also fill us with hope if we heed their counsel. The Lucifer Effect reads like a novel.”—Anthony Pratkanis, Ph.D., professor emeritus of psychology, University of California
Get the book
Other editions
Similar books
-
The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil
By Philip ZimbardoThis is a book that dares to hold a mirror up to mankind, showing us that we might not be who we think we are.
-
The Lucifer Effect: How Good People Turn Evil
By Philip G. Zimbardo'The Lucifer Effect' examines how the human mind has the capacity to be infinitely caring or selfish, kind or cruel, creative or destructive, and the ways in which the goodness of humanity can be transformed into bestiality.
-
Evil Incarnate: Rumors of Demonic Conspiracy and Satanic Abuse in History
By David Frankfurter... Extreme Evil: Kids Killing Kids (Nashville: Nelson 1999), 8–12. 32. E.g., teen girls kill mother, Gulfport, Mississippi, July 1992; three teens lure and beat to death another in their circle, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, June 2003.
-
Man, Interrupted: Why Young Men are Struggling & What We Can Do About It
By Philip Zimbardo, Nikita D. CoulombeThis new book is an expansion of that brief polemic based on Zimbardo’s observations, research, and the survey that was completed by over 20,000 viewers of the original TED Talk.
-
The Lucifer Principle: A Scientific Expedition into the Forces of History
By Howard Bloom“A philosophical look at the history of our species which alternated between fascinating and frightening . . . like reading Dean Koontz or Stephen King.” —Rocky Mountain News The Lucifer Principle is a revolutionary work that explores ...
-
Psychology and Life
By Philip G. Zimbardo, Richard J. GerrigThis text offers students a thorough look at the different issues and theoretical perspectives in psychology today, combining scientific rigour with a dedicated enthusiasm for the subject matter.
-
An Analysis of Philip Zimbardo's The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil
By Alexander O’ConnorIn making this observation, Zimbardo also built on the work of Stanley Milgram, whose own psychological experiments had shown the impact that authority figures can have on determining the actions of their subordinates.
-
The Stanford Prison Experiment: A psychological experiment about the exploration of human behavior under imprisonment
By Gabriel DischereitSeminar paper from the year 2004 in the subject Sociology - Methodology and Methods, grade: 1,2, Justus-Liebig-University Giessen, language: English, abstract: In the 1970s and '80s, the behavioral researcher and psychologist Prof.
-
21st Century Economics: Economic Ideas You Should Read and Remember
By Bruno S. Frey, Christoph A. SchalteggerThis compilation of short essays helps readers interested in economics to identify 21st century economic ideas that should be read and remembered.
-
The Time Cure: Overcoming PTSD with the New Psychology of Time Perspective Therapy
By Philip Zimbardo, Richard Sword, Rosemary SwordThis book will change the lives of so many that have felt lost to a life of fear and anguish, but now can discover the joy of a hope-filled future.