The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil
by Philip Zimbardo
Book Summary Information
Author: Philip ZimbardoEdition: Paperback
Published: 2008-01-22
ISBN: 0812974441
Number of pages: 576
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Book Reviews of The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil
Book Review: Autonomy, compassion and listening to counter powerful situational dynamics
Summary: 4 Stars
In his recent book, The Lucifer Effect, Philip Zimbardo writes about his research while conducting the Stanford Prisoner Experiment (1971) . His research and analysis with the Stanford Prisoner Experiment (SPE) describes the almost immediate effects of imprisonment on psychologically healthy humans. The effects were not limited to the prisoners. Using the same random sampling to select psychologically healthy young adult males as guards, Zimbardo created an experimental prison in the basement of the Stanford psychology department building. Before entering the experiment, most of the participants thought that the few days of the experiment would be a fun time with role playing. Within a few hours, the guards and prisoners - who were seemingly indistinguishable from each other prior to the experiment, fell into roles that reflected the grim settings of institutional prisons. Many of the guards became abusive, and most of the prisoners became passive, emotionally distraught, and within a day, had lost perspective that they were actually in an experiment. Zimbardo's analysis of this group of young men in the experiment showed how powerfully the system of the "prison" effected each player. The gravitational pull was so strong that each individual inhabited their respective roles as passive prisoners and abusive guards without much resistance. With regard to human beings, it seems that the three conditions that set up the strongest coherence in this system were the roles of captor and prisoner within the structural confines of physical setting (third condition) .
In a prison, these roles are black and white. Out in the (mostly) autonomous world, these roles are played out with more shades of grey. I can think of an abusive boss and employee falling into this system as one example.
My father recently had hip replacement surgery, and his resulting rehabilitation reminded me of another example. After his surgery and two recovery days in the hospital, a decision was made by the weekend staff to send him to a nursing home (euphemism: rehab facility) for five days to get back his strength. Before the surgery he was told he would go home after his hospital stay. Because the weekend staff did not include his surgeon, other people at the hospital without knowledge of my father's specific condition changed his itinerary. They were covering their behinds for insurance purposes, in case he fell at home and re-injured himself. My father had little choice in this: he was threatened with voided insurance if he resisted the staff's opinion. I called him after his first night at the rehab facility to see how he was doing. His behavior reminded me of the experiment described by Zimbardo. He told me that he felt like he had no rights, didn't know if he would ever get out of there, and that they were going to slowly kill him with the terrible food (no humor). This was coming from someone who was renowned for his sense of control and well being. I asked how they were treating him, and he told me everyone was very nice to him. He also told me that nobody was telling him anything about his condition or when he would be able to leave. He felt like a prisoner. The "guards" were respectful and nice. What was missing was his autonomous ability to come and go, and a chance to interact with someone who could listen to his complaints and tell him what exactly his situation was. He quickly deteriorated emotionally.
Ultimately, my father was able to get his own food, delivered by my mom, and learned after 5 days that he could leave. Once he got home, his emotional state returned to normal, and is recovering well.
Seeing my emotionally sturdy dad succumb to such a system, (one where people were trying to help him!) provided me with some insight into some conditions that prevail on this captor/prisoner system. Human beings quickly deteriorate if they feel they have no autonomy. This situation further deteriorates if they feel that their words fall on deaf ears. For the captors (or orderlies/bosses etc.): The temptation to treat them/supervise them/take care of them without sensitivity to their needs leads to further alienation and downward spiral of the system. [...]
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