The psychology of evil | Philip Zimbardo

Summary

The speaker, reflecting on his childhood in the South Bronx, explores the nature of evil through personal anecdotes and psychological studies, including the Stanford Prison Experiment and Milgram's obedience studies. He argues that good people can become agents of evil due to situational and systemic influences, emphasizing the importance of recognizing and resisting the 'Lucifer Effect.' The talk concludes with the potential for heroism as an antidote to evil, advocating for the cultivation of a heroic imagination in society.

Takeaways

• 🧐 The concept of evil has been explored by various disciplines for centuries, focusing on what drives people to do wrong.
• 👶 The speaker's childhood experiences in the South Bronx exposed them to the fluidity of the line between good and evil, challenging the notion of a fixed moral boundary.
• 🎨 M.C. Escher's artwork illustrates the coexistence of good and evil, suggesting that they are two sides of the same coin in human nature.
• 😇 The story of Lucifer's fall from grace symbolizes the potential for transformation from good to evil, indicating that even divine creations can become corrupt.
• 💪 Evil is defined as the exercise of power to intentionally harm others, whether psychologically, physically, or mortally.
• 🔍 The speaker's role as an expert witness in the Abu Ghraib case allowed for an in-depth analysis of the situational and systemic factors that led to the abuse.
• 👮‍♂️ The military police guards at Abu Ghraib were unprepared for their mission and were pressured into crossing moral lines under the influence of higher authorities.
• 🔬 Social psychologists emphasize the importance of situational factors and systemic influences on individual behavior, beyond just personal dispositions.
• 🌐 The Stanford Prison Study demonstrated how 'good apples' can become perpetrators of evil when placed in a corrupt system without oversight.
• 👥 The transformation of individuals into agents of evil can be understood through a dynamic interplay of personal, situational, and systemic factors.
• 🌟 The potential for heroism exists as an antidote to evil, suggesting that ordinary people can perform extraordinary acts when they choose to act against injustice.

Q & A

What is the central theme of the speaker's discourse on the nature of evil?

The central theme is the exploration of the factors that lead individuals to commit evil acts, emphasizing the idea that good people can be transformed into perpetrators of evil under certain circumstances, and the importance of understanding the dynamic interplay between personal dispositions, situational factors, and systemic influences.

What personal experience from the speaker's childhood influenced his perspective on the nature of evil?

The speaker grew up in the South Bronx, an inner-city ghetto, where he witnessed friends who were 'really good kids' succumbing to negative influences, taking drugs, getting into trouble, and in some cases, ending up in jail or killed. This experience shaped his view that the line between good and evil is not fixed but movable and permeable.

What is the 'Lucifer effect' as discussed by the speaker?

The 'Lucifer effect' refers to the psychological phenomenon where ordinary, good people are transformed into perpetrators of evil due to situational and systemic pressures. It is named after the story of Lucifer, God's favorite angel, who became Satan, symbolizing the potential for transformation from good to evil.

How does the speaker connect the story of Lucifer to human behavior?

The speaker uses the story of Lucifer's transformation from God's favorite angel to the embodiment of evil as a metaphor for understanding how ordinary people can be influenced by their circumstances and systems to commit acts of evil, highlighting the potential for both good and evil within human nature.

What role does the concept of 'power' play in the definition of evil provided by the speaker?

According to the speaker, evil is the exercise of power to intentionally harm people psychologically, physically, or mortally, or to destroy ideas and commit crimes against humanity. It underscores the idea that evil acts are often committed through the abuse or misuse of power.

What was the speaker's involvement in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal?

The speaker served as an expert witness for Sergeant Chip Frederick, one of the guards involved in the scandal. This role gave him access to investigative reports, the opportunity to study the individuals involved, and to analyze the situational and systemic factors that contributed to the abuses.

What were the findings from the speaker's analysis of the Abu Ghraib photos?

The speaker organized the photos into various categories and found that the abuses were committed by U.S. military police and army reservists who were not prepared for their mission. The incidents occurred primarily in Tier 1-A on the night shift, where pressure from higher authorities led to a breakdown of ethical conduct.

What is the significance of the 'Stanford Prison Study' in understanding the transformation of individuals into agents of evil?

The 'Stanford Prison Study' demonstrated how ordinary, psychologically healthy individuals could be transformed into abusive guards or traumatized prisoners within a simulated prison environment, highlighting the power of situational and systemic factors in influencing behavior.

What are the seven social processes that contribute to the 'slippery slope of evil' as outlined by the speaker?

The seven social processes are: 1) Mindlessly taking the first small step, 2) Dehumanization of others, 3) De-individuation of self, 4) Diffusion of personal responsibility, 5) Blind obedience to authority, 6) Uncritical conformity to group norms, and 7) Passive tolerance of evil through inaction or indifference.

How does the speaker suggest promoting heroism as an antidote to evil?

The speaker advocates for the promotion of the 'heroic imagination,' particularly in educational systems, encouraging children to see themselves as potential heroes waiting for the right situation to act. This involves teaching them to act against conformity when necessary and to act socio-centrically, focusing on the welfare of others.

What is the importance of recognizing and celebrating 'ordinary heroes' according to the speaker?

Recognizing and celebrating 'ordinary heroes' is important because it helps to counteract the power of evil systems and promotes a culture of respect for personal dignity, justice, and peace. It also encourages individuals to take action when faced with situations where heroism is required, rather than succumbing to the pressures of conformity or inaction.

Outlines

00:00

🤔 The Complexity of Human Nature

The speaker begins by discussing the age-old question of what leads people to do wrong, reflecting on his childhood in the South Bronx and observing the transformation of good kids into troubled individuals. He uses the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde narrative to illustrate this transformation and challenges the notion of a fixed line between good and evil. The speaker introduces the work of M.C. Escher to convey the coexistence of good and evil, likening it to the yin and yang of human nature. He also discusses the biblical story of Lucifer to emphasize the potential for transformation from good to evil, and vice versa. The 'Lucifer effect' is presented as a psychological concept where evil is defined as the exercise of power to harm others, with examples such as the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, suggesting that 'bad barrels' (the environment or system) can corrupt 'good apples' (individuals).

05:03

📸 The Reality of Evil: Abu Ghraib and Beyond

This paragraph delves into the Abu Ghraib prison abuses, describing the horrific conditions and treatment of prisoners by military police guards. The speaker criticizes the tendency to blame 'bad apples' for such scandals, instead advocating for a systemic approach that considers the situational and environmental factors that contribute to such abuses. He shares his experience as an expert witness for Sergeant Chip Frederick, providing insight into the soldier's actions and the circumstances that led to the abuse. The speaker also discusses the role of the military intelligence center in Tier 1-A and the pressure placed on soldiers to extract information through harsh interrogations, which led to the crossing of moral boundaries.

10:05

🧐 The Dispositional and Situational Approaches to Understanding Evil

The speaker contrasts the dispositional approach, which focuses on individual characteristics, with the situational approach, which considers external factors that influence behavior. He emphasizes the importance of understanding the system's role in shaping individual actions, as evidenced by his involvement in the Stanford Prison Study and the Abu Ghraib scandal. The speaker argues that the system's power to corrupt individuals is the key to understanding how good people can become agents of evil. He introduces his book 'The Lucifer Effect' as a resource for further exploration of these ideas and concludes with a New Yorker cartoon that humorously encapsulates the complexity of human nature, suggesting that individuals are a blend of positive and negative traits influenced by circumstances.

15:06

🚨 The Social Psychology of Evil: Milgram's Obedience Study

The speaker recounts the infamous Milgram experiment, which tested the obedience of ordinary people to authority, even when it involved administering potentially lethal electric shocks to a 'learner.' Despite expectations that only a small percentage of participants would follow orders to the end, the results showed a startling majority willing to administer the maximum voltage. The study is used to illustrate the power of situational factors and authority in shaping behavior, challenging the belief in the inherent goodness of people. The speaker also draws parallels between the experiment and real-world tragedies, such as the mass suicide in Jonestown, emphasizing the dangers of blind obedience and the importance of understanding the social psychology behind such actions.

20:07

🛡️ The Stanford Prison Study and the Power of Situations

The speaker describes the Stanford Prison Study, an experiment that aimed to understand the effects of institutional power on individual behavior. Volunteers were randomly assigned roles as prisoners or guards, with the study quickly spiraling out of control as the guards began to exhibit abusive and dehumanizing behavior. The experiment was halted after only six days due to the severe psychological distress it caused the participants. The speaker discusses the social processes that led to this transformation, including dehumanization, de-individuation, and blind obedience, and highlights the importance of recognizing the potential for evil within ordinary situations and the need for oversight and accountability to prevent abuse of power.

🌟 The Potential for Heroism Amidst Evil

Concluding the talk, the speaker shifts focus from the potential for evil to the potential for heroism. He emphasizes the importance of promoting a 'heroic imagination' in society, particularly among children, to inspire them to act heroically in the face of adversity. The speaker argues against the traditional models of heroism that focus on exceptional individuals with supernatural abilities, instead advocating for the recognition of everyday heroes whose actions, though unusual, demonstrate courage and moral integrity. He shares personal anecdotes, including the story of a woman who stopped the Stanford Prison Study and the tale of Wesley Autrey, a subway hero who saved a man from an oncoming train, illustrating that heroism is within reach for everyone and that it is a matter of choice and action.

Keywords

💡Evil

Evil, in the context of the video, is defined as the exercise of power to intentionally harm people psychologically, physically, or mortally, or to destroy ideas and commit crimes against humanity. It is central to the theme as the speaker explores the transformation of ordinary people into perpetrators of evil. The script references historical and contemporary examples, such as the abuse at Abu Ghraib and the Stanford Prison Study, to illustrate how situational factors can lead to evil actions.

💡Lucifer Effect

The 'Lucifer Effect' is a term coined by the speaker to describe the process by which good people can be transformed into agents of evil. It is derived from the biblical story of Lucifer, an angel who became Satan. The concept is integral to the video's narrative, emphasizing the potential for moral corruption within any individual, influenced by situational and systemic factors.

💡Inner City

The term 'inner city' refers to the central and often poorer areas of a city, characterized by high population density and social challenges. In the script, the speaker's upbringing in the South Bronx, an inner-city neighborhood, serves as a backdrop to his early observations of the permeability of the line between good and evil.

💡Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a reference to the novella by Robert Louis Stevenson, which explores the duality of human nature. In the video, the speaker uses this reference to describe his childhood friends who exhibited good and evil behaviors, illustrating the theme of the potential for transformation within individuals.

💡Yin and Yang

Yin and Yang is a Chinese philosophical concept representing the dualistic nature of existence, where opposing forces are interconnected and interdependent. The speaker uses this concept to describe the constant presence of good and evil in the world, suggesting that they are part of the human condition.

💡Stanford Prison Study

The Stanford Prison Study is a psychological experiment conducted by the speaker, which aimed to understand the effects of perceived power on human behavior. In the video, it is used as a case study to demonstrate how ordinary people can quickly adopt abusive behaviors when placed in a position of authority, aligning with the theme of the Lucifer Effect.

💡Abu Ghraib

Abu Ghraib refers to the infamous prison in Iraq where human rights abuses by American soldiers were exposed in 2004. The video discusses the incident as a real-world example of the Lucifer Effect, showing how individuals can commit acts of evil under certain situational pressures.

💡Dehumanization

Dehumanization is the act of depriving a person or group of their human qualities in order to rationalize their mistreatment. In the script, it is identified as a social process that facilitates the perpetration of evil, as seen in the treatment of prisoners in both the Stanford Prison Study and Abu Ghraib.

💡Heroic Imagination

The concept of 'heroic imagination' is introduced as a positive counterpoint to the potential for evil. It refers to the capacity of individuals to act heroically in challenging situations. The speaker advocates for nurturing this imagination in children as an antidote to evil, emphasizing the importance of recognizing and acting on moral opportunities.

💡Banality of Evil

The 'Banality of Evil' is a term popularized by Hannah Arendt to describe the ordinary, thoughtless actions that lead to horrific consequences. In the video, the speaker contrasts this with the 'banality of heroism,' suggesting that heroic acts are often committed by ordinary people in everyday situations, not just by exceptional individuals.

💡Social-Psychological Processes

Social-psychological processes refer to the mechanisms by which individuals are influenced by their social environment and psychological states. The speaker outlines several such processes, including obedience to authority and conformity to group norms, which can lead to evil actions or, conversely, heroic ones.

Highlights

The exploration of what makes people go wrong, drawing from personal experiences growing up in the South Bronx.

The illustration of the fluidity between good and evil, using the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde analogy.

The introduction of M.C. Escher's artwork to demonstrate the coexistence of good and evil.

The story of Lucifer as a metaphor for the transformation of good individuals into agents of evil.

Defining evil as the exercise of power to intentionally harm, with psychological, physical, or mortal consequences.

The shocking revelation of American soldiers' abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib and the subsequent denial of responsibility by the military.

The hypothesis that the environment, not just individuals, is responsible for such abuses.

The role of situational factors in transforming ordinary people into perpetrators of evil, as seen in the Stanford Prison Study.

The psychological analysis of Sergeant Chip Frederick to understand his actions during the Abu Ghraib scandal.

The importance of understanding the systemic factors that lead to human rights abuses, rather than solely focusing on individual actions.

The dynamic interplay between personal dispositions, situational influences, and systemic factors in human character transformation.

The concept of the 'Lucifer Effect' as a psychological phenomenon explaining how good people can turn evil.

The study of Stanley Milgram on obedience to authority and its implications for understanding human behavior under orders.

The comparison between Milgram's obedience studies and real-world events like the Jonestown Massacre.

The seven social processes that lead to the 'slippery slope' of evil, including dehumanization and blind obedience.

The transformative power of situations and the potential for both evil and heroism within the same context.

The promotion of the 'heroic imagination' as an antidote to evil and the importance of recognizing and cultivating heroism in everyday people.

The call to shift from an individual focus to a public health model that addresses the systemic causes of societal issues like violence and prejudice.

The personal story of the end of the Stanford Prison Study, highlighting the impact of one person's intervention.

The story of Joe Darby, the private who exposed the Abu Ghraib abuses, illustrating the power of individual heroism.

The final message on the importance of acting against evil systems and advocating for respect, justice, and peace.

Transcripts

Philosophers, dramatists, theologians

have grappled with this question for centuries:

what makes people go wrong?

Interestingly, I asked this question when I was a little kid.

I grew up in the South Bronx, inner-city ghetto in New York,

and I was surrounded by evil,

as all kids are who grew up in an inner city.

And I had friends who were really good kids,

who lived out the Dr. Jekyll Mr. Hyde scenario -- Robert Louis Stevenson.

That is, they took drugs, got in trouble, went to jail.

Some got killed, and some did it without drug assistance.

So when I read Robert Louis Stevenson, that wasn't fiction.

The only question is, what was in the juice?

And more importantly, that line between good and evil --

which privileged people like to think is fixed and impermeable,

with them on the good side, the others on the bad side --

I knew that line was movable, and it was permeable.

Good people could be seduced across that line,

and under good and some rare circumstances, bad kids could recover

with help, with reform, with rehabilitation.

So I want to begin with this wonderful illusion

by [Dutch] artist M.C. Escher.

If you look at it and focus on the white, what you see is a world full of angels.

But let's look more deeply, and as we do,

what appears is the demons, the devils in the world.

That tells us several things.

One, the world is, was, will always be filled with good and evil,

because good and evil is the yin and yang of the human condition.

It tells me something else.

If you remember, God's favorite angel was Lucifer.

Apparently, Lucifer means "the light."

It also means "the morning star," in some scripture.

And apparently, he disobeyed God,

and that's the ultimate disobedience to authority.

And when he did, Michael, the archangel, was sent to kick him out of heaven

along with the other fallen angels.

And so Lucifer descends into hell, becomes Satan,

becomes the devil, and the force of evil in the universe begins.

Paradoxically, it was God who created hell as a place to store evil.

He didn't do a good job of keeping it there though.

So, this arc of the cosmic transformation of God's favorite angel into the Devil,

for me, sets the context for understanding human beings

who are transformed from good, ordinary people into perpetrators of evil.

So the Lucifer effect, although it focuses on the negatives --

the negatives that people can become,

not the negatives that people are --

leads me to a psychological definition.

Evil is the exercise of power.

And that's the key: it's about power.

To intentionally harm people psychologically,

to hurt people physically, to destroy people mortally, or ideas,

and to commit crimes against humanity.

If you Google "evil," a word that should surely have withered by now,

you come up with 136 million hits in a third of a second.

A few years ago -- I am sure all of you were shocked, as I was,

with the revelation of American soldiers abusing prisoners in a strange place

in a controversial war, Abu Ghraib in Iraq.

And these were men and women

who were putting prisoners through unbelievable humiliation.

I was shocked, but I wasn't surprised,

because I had seen those same visual parallels

when I was the prison superintendent of the Stanford Prison Study.

Immediately the Bush administration military said what?

What all administrations say when there's a scandal:

"Don't blame us. It's not the system.

It's the few bad apples, the few rogue soldiers."

My hypothesis is, American soldiers are good, usually.

Maybe it was the barrel that was bad.

But how am I going to deal with that hypothesis?

I became an expert witness for one of the guards,

Sergeant Chip Frederick, and in that position,

I had access to the dozen investigative reports.

I had access to him.

I could study him, have him come to my home, get to know him,

do psychological analysis to see, was he a good apple or bad apple.

And thirdly, I had access to all of the 1,000 pictures

that these soldiers took.

These pictures are of a violent or sexual nature.

All of them come from the cameras of American soldiers.

Because everybody has a digital camera or cell phone camera,

they took pictures of everything, more than 1,000.

And what I've done is I organized them into various categories.

But these are by United States military police, army reservists.

They are not soldiers prepared for this mission at all.

And it all happened in a single place, Tier 1-A, on the night shift.

Why?

Tier 1-A was the center for military intelligence.

It was the interrogation hold.

The CIA was there.

Interrogators from Titan Corporation, all there,

and they're getting no information about the insurgency.

So they're going to put pressure on these soldiers,

military police, to cross the line,

give them permission to break the will of the enemy,

to prepare them for interrogation, to soften them up,

to take the gloves off.

Those are the euphemisms, and this is how it was interpreted.

Let's go down to that dungeon.

(Typewriting)

[Abu Ghraib Iraq Prison Abuses 2008 Military Police Guards' Photos]

[The following images include nudity and graphic depictions of violence]

(Camera shutter sounds)

(Thuds)

(Camera shutter)

(Camera shutter)

(Breathing)

(Bells)

(Bells end)

So, pretty horrific.

That's one of the visual illustrations of evil.

And it should not have escaped you

that the reason I paired the prisoner with his arms out

with Leonardo da Vinci's ode to humanity

is that that prisoner was mentally ill.

That prisoner covered himself with shit every day,

they had to roll him in dirt so he wouldn't stink.

But the guards ended up calling him "Shit Boy."

What was he doing in that prison rather than in some mental institution?

In any event, here's former Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld.

He comes down and says, "I want to know, who is responsible?

Who are the bad apples?"

Well, that's a bad question.

You have to reframe it and ask, "What is responsible?"

"What" could be the who of people,

but it could also be the what of the situation,

and obviously that's wrongheaded.

How do psychologists try to understand such transformations of human character,

if you believe that they were good soldiers

before they went down to that dungeon?

There are three ways. The main way is called dispositional.

We look at what's inside of the person, the bad apples.

This is the foundation of all of social science,

the foundation of religion, the foundation of war.

Social psychologists like me come along and say,

"Yeah, people are the actors on the stage,

but you'll have to be aware of the situation.

Who are the cast of characters? What's the costume?

Is there a stage director?"

And so we're interested in what are the external factors

around the individual -- the bad barrel?

Social scientists stop there and they miss the big point

that I discovered when I became an expert witness for Abu Ghraib.

The power is in the system.

The system creates the situation that corrupts the individuals,

and the system is the legal, political, economic, cultural background.

And this is where the power is of the bad-barrel makers.

If you want to change a person, change the situation.

And to change it, you've got to know where the power is, in the system.

So the Lucifer effect involves understanding

human character transformations with these three factors.

And it's a dynamic interplay.

What do the people bring into the situation?

What does the situation bring out of them?

And what is the system that creates and maintains that situation?

My recent book, "The Lucifer Effect," is about,

how do you understand how good people turn evil?

And it has a lot of detail about what I'm going to talk about today.

So Dr. Z's "Lucifer Effect," although it focuses on evil,

really is a celebration of the human mind's infinite capacity

to make any of us kind or cruel,

caring or indifferent, creative or destructive,

and it makes some of us villains.

And the good news that I'm going to hopefully come to at the end

is that it makes some of us heroes.

This wonderful cartoon in the New Yorker summarizes my whole talk:

"I'm neither a good cop nor a bad cop, Jerome.

Like yourself, I'm a complex amalgam

of positive and negative personality traits

that emerge or not, depending on the circumstances."

(Laughter)

There's a study some of you think you know about,

but very few people have ever read the story.

You watched the movie.

This is Stanley Milgram, little Jewish kid from the Bronx,

and he asked the question, "Could the Holocaust happen here, now?"

People say, "No, that's Nazi Germany, Hitler, you know, that's 1939."

He said, "Yeah, but suppose Hitler asked you,

'Would you electrocute a stranger?' 'No way, I'm a good person.'"

He said, "Why don't we put you in a situation

and give you a chance to see what you would do?"

And so what he did was he tested 1,000 ordinary people.

500 New Haven, Connecticut, 500 Bridgeport.

And the ad said, "Psychologists want to understand memory.

We want to improve people's memory, because it is the key to success."

OK?

"We're going to give you five bucks -- four dollars for your time.

We don't want college students. We want men between 20 and 50."

In the later studies, they ran women.

Ordinary people: barbers, clerks, white-collar people.

So, you go down,

one of you will be a learner, one will be a teacher.

The learner's a genial, middle-aged guy.

He gets tied up to the shock apparatus in another room.

The learner could be middle-aged, could be as young as 20.

And one of you is told by the authority, the guy in the lab coat,

"Your job as teacher is to give him material to learn.

Gets it right, reward.

Gets it wrong, you press a button on the shock box.

The first button is 15 volts. He doesn't even feel it."

That's the key.

All evil starts with 15 volts.

And then the next step is another 15 volts.

The problem is, at the end of the line, it's 450 volts.

And as you go along, the guy is screaming,

"I've got a heart condition! I'm out of here!"

You're a good person. You complain.

"Sir, who will be responsible if something happens to him?"

The experimenter says, "Don't worry, I will be responsible.

Continue, teacher."

And the question is, who would go all the way to 450 volts?

You should notice here, when it gets up to 375,

it says, "Danger. Severe Shock."

When it gets up to here, there's "XXX" -- the pornography of power.

So Milgram asks 40 psychiatrists,

"What percent of American citizens would go to the end?"

They said only one percent.

Because that's sadistic behavior, and we know, psychiatry knows,

only one percent of Americans are sadistic.

OK.

Here's the data. They could not be more wrong.

Two thirds go all the way to 450 volts.

This was just one study.

Milgram did more than 16 studies.

And look at this.

In study 16, where you see somebody like you go all the way,

90 percent go all the way.

In study five, if you see people rebel,

90 percent rebel.

What about women? Study 13 -- no different than men.

So Milgram is quantifying evil as the willingness of people

to blindly obey authority, to go all the way to 450 volts.

And it's like a dial on human nature.

A dial in a sense that you can make almost everybody totally obedient,

down to the majority, down to none.

What are the external parallels? For all research is artificial.

What's the validity in the real world?

912 American citizens committed suicide or were murdered

by family and friends in Guyana jungle in 1978,

because they were blindly obedient to this guy, their pastor --

not their priest -- their pastor, Reverend Jim Jones.

He persuaded them to commit mass suicide.

And so, he's the modern Lucifer effect,

a man of God who becomes the Angel of Death.

Milgram's study is all about individual authority to control people.

Most of the time, we are in institutions,

so the Stanford Prison Study is a study of the power of institutions

to influence individual behavior.

Interestingly, Stanley Milgram and I were in the same high school class

in James Monroe in the Bronx, 1954.

I did this study with my graduate students,

especially Craig Haney -- and it also began work with an ad.

We had a cheap, little ad,

but we wanted college students for a study of prison life.

75 people volunteered, took personality tests.

We did interviews.

Picked two dozen: the most normal, the most healthy.

Randomly assigned them to be prisoner and guard.

So on day one, we knew we had good apples.

I'm going to put them in a bad situation.

And secondly, we know there's no difference

between the boys who will be guards and those who will be prisoners.

To the prisoners, we said,

"Wait at home. The study will begin Sunday."

We didn't tell them

that the city police were going to come and do realistic arrests.

(Video) (Music)

[Day 1]

Student: A police car pulls up in front, and a cop comes to the front door,

and knocks, and says he's looking for me.

So they, right there, you know, they took me out the door,

they put my hands against the car.

It was a real cop car, it was a real policeman,

and there were real neighbors in the street,

who didn't know that this was an experiment.

And there was cameras all around and neighbors all around.

They put me in the car, then they drove me around Palo Alto.

They took me to the basement of the police station.

Then they put me in a cell.

I was the first one to be picked up, so they put me in a cell,

which was just like a room with a door with bars on it.

You could tell it wasn't a real jail.

They locked me in there, in this degrading little outfit.

They were taking this experiment too seriously.

Here are the prisoners, who are going to be dehumanized, they'll become numbers.

Here are the guards with the symbols of power and anonymity.

Guards get prisoners to clean the toilet bowls out with their bare hands,

to do other humiliating tasks.

They strip them naked. They sexually taunt them.

They begin to do degrading activities, like having them simulate sodomy.

You saw simulating fellatio in soldiers in Abu Ghraib.

My guards did it in five days.

The stress reaction was so extreme

that normal kids we picked because they were healthy

had breakdowns within 36 hours.

The study ended after six days, because it was out of control.

Five kids had emotional breakdowns.

Does it make a difference

if warriors go to battle changing their appearance or not?

If they're anonymous, how do they treat their victims?

In some cultures, they go to war without changing their appearance.

In others, they paint themselves like "Lord of the Flies."

In some, they wear masks.

In many, soldiers are anonymous in uniform.

So this anthropologist, John Watson, found 23 cultures that had two bits of data.

Do they change their appearance? 15.

Do they kill, torture, mutilate? 13.

If they don't change their appearance,

only one of eight kills, tortures or mutilates.

The key is in the red zone.

If they change their appearance,

12 of 13 -- that's 90 percent -- kill, torture, mutilate.

And that's the power of anonymity.

So what are the seven social processes

that grease the slippery slope of evil?

Mindlessly taking the first small step.

Dehumanization of others. De-individuation of self.

Diffusion of personal responsibility.

Blind obedience to authority.

Uncritical conformity to group norms.

Passive tolerance of evil through inaction, or indifference.

And it happens when you're in a new or unfamiliar situation.

Your habitual response patterns don't work.

Your personality and morality are disengaged.

"Nothing is easier than to denounce the evildoer;

nothing more difficult than understanding him," Dostoyevsky.

Understanding is not excusing. Psychology is not excuse-ology.

So social and psychological research reveals

how ordinary, good people can be transformed without the drugs.

You don't need it. You just need the social-psychological processes.

Real world parallels?

Compare this with this.

James Schlesinger -- I'm going to end with this -- says,

"Psychologists have attempted to understand how and why

individuals and groups who usually act humanely

can sometimes act otherwise in certain circumstances."

That's the Lucifer effect.

And he goes on to say, "The landmark Stanford study

provides a cautionary tale for all military operations."

If you give people power without oversight,

it's a prescription for abuse.

They knew that, and let that happen.

So another report, an investigative report by General Fay,

says the system is guilty.

In this report, he says it was the environment that created Abu Ghraib,

by leadership failures that contributed to the occurrence of such abuse,

and because it remained undiscovered

by higher authorities for a long period of time.

Those abuses went on for three months.

Who was watching the store?

The answer is nobody, I think on purpose.

He gave the guards permission to do those things,

and they knew nobody was ever going to come down to that dungeon.

So you need a paradigm shift in all of these areas.

The shift is away from the medical model that focuses only on the individual.

The shift is toward a public health model

that recognizes situational and systemic vectors of disease.

Bullying is a disease. Prejudice is a disease.

Violence is a disease.

Since the Inquisition, we've been dealing with problems at the individual level.

It doesn't work.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn says, "The line between good and evil

cuts through the heart of every human being."

That means that line is not out there.

That's a decision that you have to make, a personal thing.

So I want to end very quickly on a positive note.

Heroism as the antidote to evil,

by promoting the heroic imagination,

especially in our kids, in our educational system.

We want kids to think, "I'm a hero in waiting,

waiting for the right situation to come along,

and I will act heroically.

My whole life, I'm now going to focus away from evil --

that I've been in since I was a kid -- to understanding heroes.

Banality of heroism.

It's ordinary people who do heroic deeds.

It's the counterpoint to Hannah Arendt's "Banality of Evil."

Our traditional societal heroes are wrong, because they are the exceptions.

They organize their life around this. That's why we know their names.

Our kids' heroes are also wrong models for them,

because they have supernatural talents.

We want our kids to realize most heroes are everyday people,

and the heroic act is unusual.

This is Joe Darby.

He was the one that stopped those abuses you saw,

because when he saw those images,

he turned them over to a senior investigating officer.

He was a low-level private, and that stopped it.

Was he a hero? No.

They had to put him in hiding, because people wanted to kill him,

and then his mother and his wife.

For three years, they were in hiding.

This is the woman who stopped the Stanford Prison Study.

When I said it got out of control, I was the prison superintendent.

I didn't know it was out of control. I was totally indifferent.

She saw that madhouse and said,

"You know what, it's terrible what you're doing to those boys.

They're not prisoners nor guards, they're boys, and you are responsible."

And I ended the study the next day.

The good news is I married her the next year.

(Laughter)

(Applause)

I just came to my senses, obviously.

So situations have the power to do [three things].

But the point is, this is the same situation

that can inflame the hostile imagination in some of us,

that makes us perpetrators of evil,

can inspire the heroic imagination in others.

It's the same situation and you're on one side or the other.

Most people are guilty of the evil of inaction,

because your mother said, "Don't get involved. Mind your own business."

And you have to say, "Mama, humanity is my business."

So the psychology of heroism is -- we're going to end in a moment --

how do we encourage children in new hero courses,

that I'm working on with Matt Langdon -- he has a hero workshop --

to develop this heroic imagination, this self-labeling,

"I am a hero in waiting," and teach them skills.

To be a hero, you have to learn to be a deviant,

because you're always going against the conformity of the group.

Heroes are ordinary people whose social actions are extraordinary. Who act.

The key to heroism is two things.

You have to act when other people are passive.

B: You have to act socio-centrically, not egocentrically.

And I want to end with a known story about Wesley Autrey, New York subway hero.

Fifty-year-old African-American construction worker standing on a subway.

A white guy falls on the tracks.

The subway train is coming. There's 75 people there.

You know what? They freeze.

He's got a reason not to get involved.

He's black, the guy's white, and he's got two kids.

Instead, he gives his kids to a stranger,

jumps on the tracks, puts the guy between the tracks,

lays on him, the subway goes over him.

Wesley and the guy -- 20 and a half inches height.

The train clearance is 21 inches.

A half an inch would have taken his head off.

And he said, "I did what anyone could do," no big deal to jump on the tracks.

And the moral imperative is "I did what everyone should do."

And so one day, you will be in a new situation.

Take path one, you're going to be a perpetrator of evil.

Evil, meaning you're going to be Arthur Andersen.

You're going to cheat, or you're going to allow bullying.

Path two, you become guilty of the evil of passive inaction.

Path three, you become a hero.

The point is, are we ready to take the path to celebrating ordinary heroes,

waiting for the right situation to come along

to put heroic imagination into action?

Because it may only happen once in your life,

and when you pass it by, you'll always know,

I could have been a hero and I let it pass me by.

So the point is thinking it and then doing it.

So I want to thank you. Thank you.

Let's oppose the power of evil systems at home and abroad,

and let's focus on the positive.

Advocate for respect of personal dignity, for justice and peace,

which sadly our administration has not been doing.

Thanks so much.

(Applause)