The psychology of evil - Essay Example

Affiliation: The psychology of evil Philip George Zimbardo in this presentation is talking about the Lucifer effect,especially on understanding how the people turn evil. Dr. Phil in this presentation is examining on what drives a good person into committing certain evil things. Part of his presentation explores how people become blind and obedient to authority, together with analyzing how the social effect may have a negative impact on someone’s life. In all cases, people believe that the line separating evil and good is clear, whereby they belong to one side while other people belong to the opposite side. Dr. Philip in this presentation shows that this line is very much permeable, whereby good can go bad, while the ‘evil’ people may be redeemed. Dr. Philip is defining evil as the exercising of power for the intention of harming (psychological), hurting (physical) , destroying, or committing crimes against humanity. Dr. Philip was part of the trial of the US army reservists that were accused of committing evil acts in Iraq war, through torturing and humiliating prisoners.

He was an expert witness representing one of the guards, receiving access to various reports, photos, and the guard himself. In his hypothesis, Dr. Philip believes that people by themselves are not evil, but were subjected into a system that compelled them into exercising power in an evil manner. The accused men were the military police who were holding prisoners in the Iraq cell though intimidation means, as a strategy of softening them up so that the interrogators may obtain information later.

The interrogators gave the military police permission of using violent and very intimidating means against these prisoners by allowing them to ‘take the gloves off.’Dr. Philip in this presentation shows graphic and sadistic photos of the prisoners that were often naked, others stacked in strange piles or various sexual positions, while others showing soldiers posing happily with some prisoners. Other prisoners were covered in faeces, while others in wounds, with the soldiers taking all these photos by themselves.

The secretary of defense by then, Donald Rumsfeld, was quoted asking, “who are the bad apples?” Dr. Philip on the contrary believes that the secretary of defense should have asked the broader question basing on the ‘Lucifer effect’, such as what causes people to go evil? The issue could be subject to divide into three categories;The bad apples, implying a few isolated people that commit evilThe bad barrel, implying a system that surrounds the people compels them into committing evilAnd the bad barrel-makers, implying the politicians, the economic, and the legal system that creates a system responsible for corrupting people.

Through this video presentation, Dr. Philip is illustrating that people do not have the capacity of realizing themselves to be evil, but believes on the possibility of compelling the people into doing evil in given situations. Most people would not be willing to electrocute an innocent person, but a milligram experiment on obedience to the authority figures was devised into compelling the people to commit evil deeds. The experiment started at 15Volts, and increasing at intervals of 15Volts up to 450Volts, causing some intense pain.

Through the first experiment, 2/3s of the participants went all the way into reaching 450V shocks, despite some psychiatrists prediction of only 1% could reach this far. Dr. Philip is also contrasting with the pastor who killed 912 people through convincing followers into murdering their families and committing suicide later. The scenario indicates the danger of blind obedience, which in the end forces people into committing evil. It is thus justified to conclude that people can commit evil deeds without knowing it, with the entire process being psychological.

All one has to do is to change the psychology of another being, which will indeed drive the person into committing an evil act. Even though it may be hard for one to read evil and relation to personnel, there is a need for all people to develop an understanding on its causes. It is the only way of containing and transforming evils acts by making wise decisions together with the innovative communal actions. Reference The Video, www.ted.com/talks/philip_zimbardo_on_the_psychology_of_evil?source=email