PhD Phillip Zimbardo , Photo by CDC/Amalija Šašek

PSYCHOLOGY

How good people become evil

Department of Psychology, Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb, has hosted the American expert psychologist PhD Phillip Zimbardo, Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Stanford University in California. On the first day of lectures, at Westin Hotel in Zagreb on September 28, 2009 professor Zimbardo presented his studies of human psyche which he conducted over the last three decades, and which aim to disclose the causes of deviant behavior conditioned by the influence of 'powerful situational forces on individual'. Zimbardo compares the transformation of good people into evil people to the transformation of Lucifer into Satan.

- My psychological definition of evil is: "the exercise of power to intentionally harm, hurt, destroy or commit crimes against humanity" – explains professor Zimbardo. He also spoke of heroism, claiming that the majority of heroes are ordinary people who take part in extraordinary moral actions.

After the lectures, the Croatian edition of professor Zimbardo's book The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil was presented. Croatia is the 14. country in the world that has published this book, after it first publication in 2007 in USA. In this book Zimbardo presents the need for the analyses of human behavior, in order to decipher how an individual contributes to the society, how the behavioral context influences an individual, and how the systemic factors influence situations. The book also tells the story of Stanford Prison Experiment, and the transformation of students who participated in the study. College students were randomly assigned to play the role of guard or inmate in a mock prison, and their behavior was monitored. The results of this study are used in comparative analyses of the American military police behavior in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

During his lecture at the Faculty of Philosophy Zimbardo spoke of human perception of time, which is, in his opinion, affected by the economic and political stability, social class, religion but also the climate. He mentioned the example of citizens of South America who are more future-oriented than the citizens of North America. Zimbardo also presented his book 'The Time Paradox', which he wrote with a co-author psychologist John Boyd. In this book the authors explain the importance of postponing impulsive urges for immediate pleasures, to achieve better future. On the other hand, they emphasize the need to yield to the present moment, without thinking about the past or worrying about the future.

Written by Amalija Šašek
Date of publishing: October 10, 2009