The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil

Science News,  Feb 9, 2008  

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THE LUCIFER EFFECT: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil PHILIP ZIMBARDO

Psychologist Zimbardo directed the Stanford Prison Experiment, in which college students were randomly assigned to act as either guards or inmates. The study was aborted after just 6 days. "inmates" showed severe stress reactions, such as trembling, Crying, and screaming in reaction to the sadistic behavior of "guards," whose sole instructions were to keep order and let no one escape. That study, conducted more than 30 years ago, reemerged in light of abuses at Abu Ghraib. As an expert defense witness at the court-martial of an Abu Ghraib guard, Zimbardo used the results of his study to argue that the U.S. military system had as much to do with prisoner abuse as did the individual perpetrator. His testimony was rejected and the guard sentenced to 8 years in prison. Here, Zimbardo weaves together mounting evidence that good people can abandon their moral scruples (hence the allusion to the angel Lucifer, who was transformed into Satan). By predicting what situations lead to such transformations, he hopes to prevent future atrocities, such as genocide, from occurring again. Random House, 2007, 551 p., b&w photos, hardcover, $27.95.

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