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zach_collins's review
5.0
Dr. Phillip Zimbardo’s The Lucifer Effect is an exploration of how rank, perception and environment can be the deciding factor in how someone reacts, and suggests that heroes and villains are in part created by their surroundings. The Lucifer Effect details the infamous Stanford Prison Experiment, planned and overseen by Zimbardo himself, Zimbardo’s analysis of the experiment and his comparisons between the SPE and several similar incidents, including the Milgram experiment and the Abu Gharib prisoner abuse scandal.
The main argument of The Lucifer Effect is that otherwise normal people can become extraordinarily cruel or heroic under the influence of their environment. The students selected for the SPE were arbitrarily divided into two categories (guards and prisoners) and placed in a mock prison in the basement on the campus at Stanford University. Zimbardo oversaw the experiment and also acted as “warden” of the fake prison, giving orders to the students selected as guards and making inspections of the rooms and closets converted into cells. Almost instantly, everyone involved in the experiment began to internalize the roles assigned to them, and began acting out the expected behaviors of those roles. After only a few days, the experiment, which was planned last for weeks, had to be cut short after the “guards” physically, verbally and sexually abused most of the “prisoners.” Almost all of the “prisoners” suffered signs of emotional and psychological trauma after examination; one even had a severe mental breakdown before the experiment was ended prematurely. What was truly terrifying was how Zimbardo himself, a professor of psychology at Stanford, admitted he was so influenced by his role of “warden” that he allowed the experiment to continue, even after watching videos of the violence the students directed toward each other. It was only after a colleague confronted him about the experiment that he realized the experiment had gone too far.
While sometimes disturbing, the details given in this book are necessary and never treated as sensational. Very little is left out, and even though I found myself nauseated and the level of detail provided, especially during the passages describing the abuse of prisoners in Abu Gharib, I also impressed with Zimbardo’s refusal to shy away from uncomfortable truths and his willingness to not only support the victims (both the prisoners and their guards) but offer real and tangible ways to keep such atrocities from happening again.
The Lucifer Effect often reads as a clinical, detached report, especially when during lengthy descriptions of particular aspects of certain experiments, but the anguish and guilt of the author is apparent, as is his passionate belief that evil, though possibly unavoidable, can be combated and even contained. Zimbardo’s belief that a certain situation can bring out the best or worst in someone is not fatalistic; instead, he holds a hopeful belief that with proper understanding and compassion, people can be protected and rehabilitated if put in the correct environment. Highly recommended, not only for psychologists and social workers, but for anyone who has wondered how atrocities like the Holocaust or the Trail of Tears could have occurred.
The main argument of The Lucifer Effect is that otherwise normal people can become extraordinarily cruel or heroic under the influence of their environment. The students selected for the SPE were arbitrarily divided into two categories (guards and prisoners) and placed in a mock prison in the basement on the campus at Stanford University. Zimbardo oversaw the experiment and also acted as “warden” of the fake prison, giving orders to the students selected as guards and making inspections of the rooms and closets converted into cells. Almost instantly, everyone involved in the experiment began to internalize the roles assigned to them, and began acting out the expected behaviors of those roles. After only a few days, the experiment, which was planned last for weeks, had to be cut short after the “guards” physically, verbally and sexually abused most of the “prisoners.” Almost all of the “prisoners” suffered signs of emotional and psychological trauma after examination; one even had a severe mental breakdown before the experiment was ended prematurely. What was truly terrifying was how Zimbardo himself, a professor of psychology at Stanford, admitted he was so influenced by his role of “warden” that he allowed the experiment to continue, even after watching videos of the violence the students directed toward each other. It was only after a colleague confronted him about the experiment that he realized the experiment had gone too far.
While sometimes disturbing, the details given in this book are necessary and never treated as sensational. Very little is left out, and even though I found myself nauseated and the level of detail provided, especially during the passages describing the abuse of prisoners in Abu Gharib, I also impressed with Zimbardo’s refusal to shy away from uncomfortable truths and his willingness to not only support the victims (both the prisoners and their guards) but offer real and tangible ways to keep such atrocities from happening again.
The Lucifer Effect often reads as a clinical, detached report, especially when during lengthy descriptions of particular aspects of certain experiments, but the anguish and guilt of the author is apparent, as is his passionate belief that evil, though possibly unavoidable, can be combated and even contained. Zimbardo’s belief that a certain situation can bring out the best or worst in someone is not fatalistic; instead, he holds a hopeful belief that with proper understanding and compassion, people can be protected and rehabilitated if put in the correct environment. Highly recommended, not only for psychologists and social workers, but for anyone who has wondered how atrocities like the Holocaust or the Trail of Tears could have occurred.
qtea's review
It does tell about the specific experiment, but is generally about how we are influenced by all kinds of situational cues related to identity and power. It took me years to finally get this book into my hands and I regret I didn't read it earlier.
fannywiren's review against another edition
I never really have the motivation to pick this one up, but I think I will eventually. It’s not bad by any means but it’s incredibly slow and technical and takes a lot of patience to read. That is just not something for me at this moment.
redrabbitalice's review
Stanford Prison Study was debunked in 2018 but still included in intro to psychology textbooks
ladyheroj's review
4.0
I graduated with a degree in Sociology (and I have an interest in psychology, so I spent many elective credits in that field). Hardly a semester went by where I wasn't drawn into a lecture on the Stanford experiment. It was almost to my surprise that I picked this book up earlier this year, convinced as I was that I knew all the details about the study.
And I didn't learn much more about the Stanford prison experiment that I didn't already know. If you've seen the Quiet Rage documentary, you'll find that Zimbardo covers the same details and the same soundbites used in it. But to read his thoughts in retrospect on the experiment, subjects, and himself as the "warden" are worth it.
The truly interesting part of the Lucifer Effect (to me, at least) was the second half, when Zimbardo applies his observations from Stanford to Abu Ghraib. It's eerie to think that the students so quickly got lost in their roles...but that was in a controlled, removed environment. To see it happen in real life, it is chilling. It felt like a very frank look at the structure in Iraq, in the military, and did not feel like Zimbardo let any personal politics cloud his writing even though the war is such a divisive issue.
It can be a slow read at time, and dense. But social psychology is a pretty accessible subject, since it is examining life around us. We're all a part of it, it's just that not all of us really think about why humans, whether as a group or as individuals, act the way we do.
And I didn't learn much more about the Stanford prison experiment that I didn't already know. If you've seen the Quiet Rage documentary, you'll find that Zimbardo covers the same details and the same soundbites used in it. But to read his thoughts in retrospect on the experiment, subjects, and himself as the "warden" are worth it.
The truly interesting part of the Lucifer Effect (to me, at least) was the second half, when Zimbardo applies his observations from Stanford to Abu Ghraib. It's eerie to think that the students so quickly got lost in their roles...but that was in a controlled, removed environment. To see it happen in real life, it is chilling. It felt like a very frank look at the structure in Iraq, in the military, and did not feel like Zimbardo let any personal politics cloud his writing even though the war is such a divisive issue.
It can be a slow read at time, and dense. But social psychology is a pretty accessible subject, since it is examining life around us. We're all a part of it, it's just that not all of us really think about why humans, whether as a group or as individuals, act the way we do.
rbogue's review against another edition
4.0
Young children can say things that adults could never get away with. Ask a child why they did something wrong, and one answer you may get is, “The devil made me do it.” The personification of evil, they proclaim, can override their free will and cause them to take one more cookie after they’ve been told no more. We laugh at this childish idea. Of course, no one can make you do something against your will. Hypnotists reportedly can’t get you to do something you don’t want to do. So how silly is it that “the devil made me do it?” The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil tries to help us understand that this may not be as far-fetched as we’d like to believe, but the devil isn’t in the details – the devil is in the system.
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Click here to read the full review
cezarywojcik's review against another edition
3.0
Though many of the ideas presented in this book are genuinely interesting and thought-provoing, this book could easily be condensed into a shorter format by eliminating the author's many rants - especially in the second half of the book. It was clear that the author was fixated on some things to the point that he ignored his own teachings in pursuit of his fixations, which was rather frustrating to read. The descriptions of the SPE (Stanford Prison Experiment), the prison at Abu Gharib as well as some of the factors that contributed to what happened was well-presented and interesting. There were also interesting bits about other social experiments done to test out the notion of "situational" factors on behavior. I wish the book had left it at that as a cautionary tale instead of trying to pursue a political agenda.