In the 1970s Philip Zimbardo conducted the Standford Prison Experiment that took college aged men, separated them into groups of "prisoners" and "guards" and then watched as the groups quickly turned on each other. The study was prematurely ended because of concerns about the well being of the participants and has never been duplicated. He applies to this framework the story of Abu Ghraib prison. He was an expert witness for the defense in the court martial of one of the guards. He feels like the system pushes people toward this type of behavior. I say wake up and smell the freedom of choice. The full title of the book is "The Lucifer Effect, How Good People Turn Evil." My alternate theory is that maybe they were evil to begin with. No, that isn't it. The point is a lot of us have things inside of us that aren't so pretty, that we battle with daily. Some of us want to let them out and if they find someone else to give the responsibility for such to they will.On the Four Star Scale
Sap Factor ( ) - none for me on this one. Very clinical.
Naughty Bits (*) - You get to see all the lovely Abu Ghraib pics again.
Readability (**) - Reads like a psych book. Interesting but at 575 pages definitely not bathroom reading.
Final notes - I don't agree. While it may be human nature to polarize and pick, yes I've been in junior high as well, we have to fight for something better in ourselves. Do not use 30 + year old studies as justification to be naughty.
2 comments:
I will have to read this--I'm so excited that you're doing this because I need to read more and am looking for some recommendations.
My friend Bonnie started a blog like this, in case you're interested:
One Book, Two Book, Red Book, Blue Book
I thought of this study which I heard about in college when I heard of the problem in Abu Gharib. I'm glad to hear someone else made the connection and wrote this book. I feel that I would agree with the author. And yet I also agree with you in many ways Crystal. I believe that we all do have some negative thoughts in us that given justification and a sense of righteous duty we may act out on. It takes a rebel to stand up and say no!
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