The Psychology Of Evil By Philip Zimbardo

Throughout the history of humanity, humans have different behaviors that change depending on what situations they are in. Psychologist Philip Zimbardo spent many years exploring human nature and has developed many theories about human behavior. One of Zimbardo’s ideas is about situational factors that states “one’s behavior is assumed to be dependent upon their current circumstances, situation or the environment that they are in.” He concluded the concept of situational factors after his Stanford Prison Experiment, in which he gave authority to regular people and observed any changes. The experiment proved that people’s behavior will change when they are in different situations. Zimbardo also believes that evilness is the exercise of power to harm people in anyway possible, so a five year old who teases others to Adolf Hitler would be classified as perpetrators of evil.

Another issue in Zimbardo’s experiment was in the treatment of the prisoners. The guards would curse at the prisoners and force them to ridiculous and arbitrary tasks such as forcing them to pick thorns out of their blankets which the guards had dragged through the bushes (737). Even the prisoners would make detrimental remarks about their fellow prisoners (737). The extreme actions taken by the guards resulted in some prisoners developing anxiety symptoms, one symptom even exhibiting itself in a psychosomatic rash when one prisoner’s parole was rejected by the parole board (738). The American Psychological Association makes it very clear on this type of behavior in their code of ethics they state that “any direct or indirect participation in any act of torture or other forms of cruel, degrading or inhuman treatment or punishment by psychologists is strictly prohibited. There are no exceptions.”

“I tend to think that good and evil exist and that the quantity in each of us is unchangeable. The moral character of people is set, fixed until death,” a quote from Michel Houellebecq, who is a French author, filmmaker and poet, is a theme represented in the novella, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson. Robert Louis Stevenson is a author who presents the good and evil in this novella, explaining the roles of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is having no impact whoever he was on the life of the two, also thinking in the way that he could choose who he wants to be, and being perfect, and showing a theme of perfection along the way. In this novella there were two different personalities, conjoined in one person, with

I think one of the main points Philip Zimbardo is making, is that anyone, even the nicest person, can turn "evil" and do bad things. This main point came up right away with the American soldiers at the Abu Ghraib Prison. These American soldiers were all good people before going to this prison. While at the prison they were surrounded by others torturing the prisoners. After being around this behavior, the other American soldiers joined in. They turned "evil" because of the activities the others were doing to the prisoners, to get information. These actions can somewhat relate to conformity. The American soldiers could have been pressured into joining the horrific activities going on at the prison. They conformed to the norms of what was happening

In the experiment, people were picked randomly and one as a teacher and one as the student. They were told to take a quiz and give electric shocks of increasing intensity as punishment if the student can’t answer. During the experiment, many people were concerned as someone can be heard shouting but only a few people who decided to stop and stick to their morals. But the others kept on going because they were just following orders from a superior (Milgram 77). "The Stanford Prison Experiment” by Philip Zimbardo, is about an experiment that was made to understand the roles people play in prison situations. For the experiment, Zimbardo converted a basement of the Stanford University psychology building into a mock prison. The participants were told to act as prisoners and guards. It was planned to be a two-week experiment but was forced to shut down in 6 days, all because of people quickly getting into their roles and started acting like the real prisoners and guards (Zimbardo 104). To compare both experiments, although they differed vastly in design and methodology, the point of both experiments was to observe how far an individual would go in inflicting increasing pain on a victim. Also how people obey under authoritative circumstances, when given power or different roles, however the writers differ in the seriousness of the fight for individuality and the use of reality.

Likewise Zimbardo’s (1971) experiment, studying the way ‘prisoners’ and ‘guards’ interacted, demonstrated similar ethical failings, such as consent gained without individuals being made fully aware of the involvements; physical, emotional and psychological harm subjected; violation of rights, including privacy, respect, confidentiality and the ability to withdraw (). Fascinated by the volume of ordinary individuals who executed terrible things to others during WWII, Zimbardo predicted that all people, even the good, had the potential to conduct malevolence when sited in the correct environment (Haney et al, 1973). In a mock prison participants were recruited to play a role, half as prisoners and the rest as guards. Both were dressed accordingly, with the guards wearing a uniform with mirrored sunglasses which promotes anonymity as their emotions are obscured, but yet denotes their position of power and authority. According to Zimbardo (2000) these ‘conditions of deindividuation’ allow for the facilitation of evil. Subsequently it becomes acceptable to enforce measures which degrade prisoners of their self-respect, including being stripped, deloused and ordered to carry a chain around their ankle, whilst the mandatory wearing of a smock and a cap made from a stocking demoralized them as it impacted upon their masculinity. Additionally, not only were prisoners assigned a number by which they were referred to, denying them of their identity, but each area of their daily

She begins recounting the notorious details, how innocent college students labeled prisoners and guards displayed psychological abuse after only six days of confinement, and makes reference to Stanley Milgram’s obedience study and Abu Ghraib, where similar maltreatment, perceived or real, was conducted on civilians by civilians. She addresses and refutes the accepted belief that the Stanford Prison Experiment proved that anyone could become a tyrant when given or instructed by a source of authority. Instead, she suggests that Zimbardo’s inquiry points toward but does not land on one exact conclusion. She explains the influence of the setting, the presentation of the roles, Zimbardo’s participation, and perhaps a sense of expectation felt, all of which can be reflected in the shocking behavior of a few guards. She argues that it should not have been so shocking. Konnikova discredits the neutrality of Zimbardo’s experiment by insisting that people who would respond to an ad for a psychological study of prison life were not “normal” people. However, with her diction and choice of evidence she displaces the study's culpability in a way that ultimately blurs and undermines her claim.

The bond between good and evil is a very prominent theme in Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Dr, Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.” The two characters are united into one human being, but contrast each other enormously. Although Dr. Jekyll represents the good, and Mr. Hyde represents the evil, both characters prove to have the other characteristics as well. Dr. Jekyll wants more than anything to separate the bond between good and evil, and performs experiments to obtain this goal. This results in the character Mr. Hyde who is filled with evil intentions. The narrator shows the evil of Dr. Hyde, “All human beings, as we meet them, commingled out of good and evil:

Reflect on what you have learned in this course and discuss how it might influence your work as a professional

In this book, there exist a battle between good and evil in the main characters where we are bound to ask ourselves what is superior between good and evil? Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are easily seen as an allegory of the evil and good that exists in men. The book depicts the struggle with two sides of the human personality. Since Mr. Hyde seems to be taking over Dr. Jekyll, one could claim that evil is stronger than good. Nevertheless, Mr. Hyde ends up dead at the end of the story, which strongly shows the weakness and the failure of evil, so we have to ask ourselves whether good can be separated from evil. “Great people are involved in bad things this is the fact of life, yet this does not make them evil” (Stevenson pp 28-75).

In Module Five, Dr. Bryan Maier discusses “The Problem of Evil,” is the question of “How God can be all sovereign and all good at the same time?”. As a counselor, I can’t remember any client, who has experienced suffering, who doesn’t struggle with The Problem of Evil.” Maier reminds counselors that our role is not to provide a reason for the client’s suffering or God’s role in it because counselors cannot know the answer. The counselor’s proper response when the Problem of Evil is brought up by the client is to simply state, “I don’t know.” A caregiver’s role is not to give their opinion or to speculate what the answer may be.

Jeremy A. Evans is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Texas A&M University, a M.Div. in Biblical Languages from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. from Texas A&M University. Dr. Evans has published two main works through B&H publishing company, The Problem of Evil: The Challenge to Essential Christian Beliefs, and The Legitimacy of Christian Moral Thought in the Marketplace of Ideas. Dr. Evans strives to accomplish two things in his teaching and writings; “one, to edify students by challenging them to engage their mind for Christ, and two, provide the necessary tools for independent research

E IDENTICALS IS THE LATEST NOVEL RELEASE BY Elin Hilderbrand. It was published by Little, Brown and Company on June 12, 2017. It explores the stories of two identical twins, Tabitha Frost and Harper Frost. In The Identicals, Tabitha and Harper Frost look exactly alike. People often have difficulty telling them apart. Because of this, people often believed that they had the same personality, as well. After their parents’ divorce, Harper and Tabitha each went to live with one parent. They were once close with each other, but after being apart for fourteen years, Harper and Tabitha become bitter towards each other.

I believe people should not be defined by their worst deeds because we are all humans who make mistakes and try to convince others we aren't the same people we use to be. According to the article, Unethical Behavior Finance: Why Good People Do Bad Things by Ronald F. Duska he talks about the six main reasons that lead good people to do bad things which are, Weakness of will, Ignorance, Slippery Slopes, Arrogance, Rationalization, and Docility. Out of these six reasons on why we make the decisions we do that I'm I feel are the best principles is beginning with Weakness of will. We as humans give into temptation and " desire things that are not good for us" (pg. 2) . Secondly, Ignorance is when we lack information on a topic of our decisions

The Zimbardo prison experiment was set up to investigate the problem of what the psychological effects for normal people result from being a guard or inmate, and in a broader sense are normal people capable of being ‘evil.’ The research question being asked was, “How would normal people react to being in a simulated prison environment? In Zimbardo’s own words, "Suppose you had only kids who were normally healthy, psychologically and physically, and they knew they would be going into a prison-like environment and that some of their civil rights would be sacrificed. Would those good people, (when) put in that bad, evil place (have) their goodness triumph?"