The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil

I read this book several years ago and was enthralled. I ordered a couple more as gifts. It seems to resonate even more today than when I first read it. Evil can spread when nobody has enough courage to speak out and stand up.

This book, and another by Gabor Mate (In The Realm of Hungry Ghosts) should be mandatory reading for any and all with decision-making authority in the judicial system - particularly judges and prosecutors in the juvenile court system! For any person in a position of authority really, not just those in the legal system. So many lives are derailed or ruined because those with the power to surveil, label, control, and incarcerate are so fully under the spell of dispositional explanations of behavior, because they cannot fathom how situational pressures they themselves are not immune to can overwhelm and undue character, and because they stubbornly insist on remaining ignorant of their own vulnerability to, and complicity in creating and maintaining, a system that conceives of and legitimizes situations that lead ordinarily good people down the path to evil. Because I am convinced of the dangers inherent in relying on exclusively dispositional explanations for human behavior, because I am convinced that a great deal of unnecessary suffering can be attributed to this fallacious reasoning about causes, and because Dr. Zimbardo's book is such a compelling and captivating read, I teach The Lucifer Effect in my Introduction to Ethics course as a foil for traditional views of evil acts as arising strictly from a defective character (a failure to cultivate virtues of character or the abscence of a good will, for instance). It is not, as Zimbardo insists, that character does not matter, but rather that situations do. And dramatically so. Acknowledging this does not make ethics irrelevant and it does not doom human beings to a kind of situational determinism. Instead, accepting the role situations play in our conduct, for better and worse, is the necessary first step in the process of building characters that, while never immune to situational evil, are highly resistant to it. It is also the precursor to redesigning social institutions (systems) that construct situations which nurture and promote kindness, helpfulness, courage, and empathy to replace those which currently foster their opposites. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is troubled by the amount of misery and violence in societies worldwide, to those whose lives touch and shape the lives of children, prisoners, soldiers - oh, heck, for anyone who is not living in complete isolation from systems, situations, and other people. Basically, everyone should read this book!

Zimbardo's point is that the problems in Abu Ghraib were largely the fault of military higher ups who were negligent but never held accountable for all of the torture and misconduct. He's correct but I stopped reading at page 400 because he goes on and on about it, hence four stars. The first half of the book about the Stanford Prison Experiment is interesting. Zimbardo is a bit on the left but he is one of the more insightful psychologists and he has a clear writing style.

The work of Philip Zimbardo does not need introduction, and yet, his contribution has incredibly wide implications for the most critical reforms our society is finally becoming ready for. This book provides the invaluable evident insights into the human mind and the extensive coverage of the study is both most fascinating as well as revealing of the human nature that is many cases is inclined to misuse the position of power. I applaud Prof. Zimbardo for his daring strive to explore this blind spot the majority of population harbors. Much more is necessary to be done to assure that this scientific data is implemented and IS FOLLOWED WITH COMPLIANCE. Of course, most of population would rather wish to see our governance institutions in the rosy color. But this sobering account informs those who are in charge of the instruments of power and who are in a position to raise the bar and to step up from the barbarism of the Dark Ages, that is still allowed to be present in the form of POLICE IMPUNITY, but most evidently should have no place in the court room. BLM somehow had omitted this key piece of the puzzle that must be achieved to liberate our society from the bluntly legalized justice. And, there is no single individual who does not deserve for this to manifest, since one day those who are poised to victimize can easily be turned into the victims of the same beast, if we allow for it to dwell among us. And this book shows the evidence and explains why and how.

Let me start by saying that this was one of the best reads in a very long time. I gave 4/5 due to the excessive self promotion, repetitiveness and shameless bias of Zimbardo. I say BIAS due to excessive focus on one atrocity which in turn explained some uneducated classifications Zimbardo made. Still would very much recommend reading.

This is an important book, as many of the official reviews and comments have said, and the content and relevance are both excellent. However, it's worth saying from the outset that it is no light read. This is true in terms of the subject matter, but also in terms of the small font and exhaustive writing style. This is a thorough book that covers its message to absolute completion, and makes no attempt to skip over the detail of that. Roughly, the book is split into 3+1 sections. I say 3+1 instead of 4, as the 4th is almost an appendage rather than a dedicated section in its own right. After a brief introduction, the book dives directly into its main subject matter: an exhaustive and minute-by-minute account of the Stanford Prison Experiment. It is by far the most detailed account I have read on the subject, perhaps not surprisingly so when you consider that Zimbardo was the principle orchestrator of the study. I won't go into detail of the accounts, as that would spoil the book, but there are detailed descriptions of every nuance and situation encountered. Having consider the experiment from start to finish (or strictly speaking, to abortion), the second part of the book then reflects on the social psychology lessons learned from it. Alongside other famous contemporary experiments, such as the work by Stanley Milgram on obedience to authority, a picture is drawn of how situational forces are much stronger at influencing our behaviours than we care to admit. This is, of course, the core point of the book. With the account given and the social and behavioural analysis complete, the book then moves to Zimbardo's own experiences as an expert witness in the trials of guards involved in the Abu Ghraib scandal. As would be expected, Zimbardo's core point is that the terrible acts committed are not--as the official explanation states--the work of a few bad apples, but instead were the result of systemic and situational failures throughout many areas. He draws on his research through the Stanford experiments to conclude that anyone in that situation may have acted in the same way. This is not an excuse, but rather an explanation. Lastly, the book considers the reverse, whether situations can also generate heroes, and what that might say about them. Personally, I found the first and second sections the most enlightening and interesting. The implications for Abu Ghraib, whilst damning, are somewhat academic since the sentences have already been passed and the blame apportioned. In fact, Zimbardo himself admits on a few occasions that he feels his expert testimony wasn't really taken seriously. As such, the third section turns into something of an exercise in creating a water-tight soap box for his now incarcerated clients. Whilst his conclusions are compelling, he is somewhat preaching to the choir, and the sheer quantity of his "evidence" can be overwhelming. I found that I didn't need to read and dissect tens of testimonies and statements to agree with his core point, and I have to confess that I eventually skipped much of this section. Similarly, with the final section, whilst an interesting muse, I did not feel that there was anything of a revelation in nature. Because of the length of the book (deceptively so because of its small font size and tightly packed paragraphs), I think that it could arguably be split into two books, and for me is the account of the Stanford Prison experiment and the subsequent psychology analysis which is important, less so the political agenda. Buy this book if you are fascinated in the equality of people, and how the saint can become the sinner, the freedom fighter the dictator. It shows how we are all capable of incredible good and incredible evil, and the route we take is less of our own intrinsic nature and more a product of our circumstances.

It is a very good book for criminologists and for those who are interested in this story

It is the gateway and a journey into the darkest parts of our own evils. I already had a copy of this book. I just bought 2 copies for my senior officers. I hope they can reflect on their acts and see how its possible for them to turn evil.

Just read it. Time well spent.