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A review by zach_collins
The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil by Philip G. Zimbardo
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.