{"id":9036,"date":"2007-06-17T10:34:56","date_gmt":"2007-06-17T14:34:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=9036"},"modified":"2018-08-17T00:37:36","modified_gmt":"2018-08-17T04:37:36","slug":"15087-philip-zimbardo-the-lucifer-effect-%e2%80%95-understanding-how-good-people-turn-evil-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=9036","title":{"rendered":"15087. (Philip Zimbardo) The Lucifer Effect \u2015 Understanding How Good People Turn Evil"},"content":{"rendered":"

Psy\u00adchol\u00ado\u00adgist Philip Zim\u00adbardo devised and super\u00advised one of the most famous exper\u00adi\u00adments in social dynam\u00adics, the Stan\u00adford Prison Exper\u00adi\u00adment. A group of col\u00adlege stu\u00addents were cast in the roles of \u201cguards\u201d and \u201cinmates\u201d in a mock prison. Intense abus\u00ades spon\u00adta\u00adneously devel\u00adoped, as the \u201cguards\u201d quick\u00adly evolved into sadis\u00adtic monsters.<\/span><\/p>\n

But this book is not just about his land\u00admark exper\u00adi\u00adment. Zim\u00adbardo was asked to tes\u00adtify as an expert wit\u00adness in abuse of pow\u00ader and the psy\u00adchol\u00adogy of tur\u00adture dur\u00ading the inves\u00adti\u00adga\u00adtions of the abus\u00ades in Abu Ghraib. It was this expe\u00adri\u00adence that prompt\u00aded him to put togeth\u00ader a com\u00adpre\u00adhen\u00adsive study of all the social psy\u00adchol\u00adogy exper\u00adi\u00adments, such as Mil\u00adgram Exper\u00adi\u00adment, which led up to his own work, and to blend it with a detailed analy\u00adsis of Abu Ghraib.<\/span><\/p>\n

I found a few things to crit\u00adi\u00adcize, while read\u00ading this, usu\u00adally when I had some dis\u00adagree\u00adment with con\u00adclu\u00adsions or with the con\u00adcep\u00adtual cat\u00ade\u00adgories employed, but they do not at all under\u00admine the impor\u00adtance and util\u00adity of the book. For one thing, you are unlike\u00adly to find a more reli\u00adable and objec\u00adtive account of what went on in Abu Ghraib, which was far more hor\u00adri\u00adfy\u00ading than what the pub\u00adlic was allowed to see in stan\u00addard news sources.<\/span><\/p>\n

The book is an impor\u00adtant doc\u00adu\u00adment. For me, the events at Abu Ghraib con\u00adsti\u00adtute the Great Divide. At that point, the Unit\u00aded States lost all cred\u00adi\u00adbil\u00adity as a civ\u00adi\u00adlized soci\u00adety and a force for good in the world. It was not so much that the events hap\u00adpened, but that it meant noth\u00ading spe\u00adcial to Amer\u00adi\u00adcans, and no seri\u00adous action was tak\u00aden to renounce and reject them. The guilty were not held account\u00adable, the hor\u00adror and immoral\u00adity, and the pro\u00adfound dis\u00adgrace<\/em> of these actions were nev\u00ader grasped by Amer\u00adi\u00adcans. They are inca\u00adpable of under\u00adstand\u00ading that all the peo\u00adple of the world have no choice, any\u00admore, except to see the U.S.A. as a dis\u00adhon\u00adourable nation, just anoth\u00ader sleazy bunch of gang\u00adsters who tor\u00adture peo\u00adple in secret cells, iden\u00adti\u00adcal to the Com\u00admu\u00adnists, the Nazis, and all the oth\u00ader slime that has infest\u00aded the earth. In a civ\u00adi\u00adlized nation, all those respon\u00adsi\u00adble for Abu Ghraib \u2015 George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Don\u00adald Rums\u00adfeld, George Tenet, Lieu\u00adtenant Gen\u00aderal Ricar\u00addo Sanchez, Major Gen\u00aderal Geof\u00adfrey Miller, and numer\u00adous shad\u00adowy fig\u00adures in the C.I.A. would be put on tri\u00adal for trea\u00adson. But none of these peo\u00adple has been pun\u00adished. That is the choice that Amer\u00adi\u00adcans have made, and they must live with the rep\u00adu\u00adta\u00adtion that his\u00adtory has in store for them.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Psy\u00adchol\u00ado\u00adgist Philip Zim\u00adbardo devised and super\u00advised one of the most famous exper\u00adi\u00adments in social dynam\u00adics, the Stan\u00adford Prison Exper\u00adi\u00adment. A group of col\u00adlege stu\u00addents were cast in the roles of \u201cguards\u201d and \u201cinmates\u201d in a mock prison. Intense abus\u00ades spontaneously \u2026<\/p>\n

Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[946,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-b-reading","category-bt-reading-2007"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9036"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9036\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9040,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9036\/revisions\/9040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}