The Personality Concept in Zimbardo’s The Lucifer Effect

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Personality Concept
Example and Relevance
Relevance in Life
Conclusion
Work Cited

Introduction

The Lucifer Effect by Philip Zimbardo addresses how humans are drawn to the darker side by offering scientific and historical data on the topic. The Lucifer effect starts when a regular person crosses the line between good and evil to commit a wicked deed. Zimbardo quotes a statement from Mahrzarin Banaji, “What social psychology has given to an understanding of human nature is the discovery that forces larger than ourselves determine our mental life. Our actions – chief among these forces is the power of the social situation” (296). One significant concept is how good people change into bad people. The author explains how situations change an individual’s life with an example from a Stanford prison experiment. The concept is significant in my life as I understand human transformations from virtue to vice.

Personality Concept

One significant concept that is relevant in my life is that someone’s personality changes depending on their circumstances. Anyone is prone to developing a range of character traits, which can be either decent or evil, considerate or uncaring (Zimbardo, 229). This is supported by an old biblical story where Lucifer, God’s favorite angel, rebelled and engaged in horrible acts. The circumstances people encounter greatly influence their tendency to turn to evil. An individual loses their moral judgment due to a loss of personality and a diffusion of responsibility, which causes them to take actions they ordinarily would not.

Example and Relevance

“Stanford Prison Experiment” is an example of personality change that shows how circumstances ultimately caused a group of stable, healthy adult men to transform into a society of unrecognizable individuals. In the experiment, the author pre-screened a group of men to make sure they were all in good physical, psychological, and social health before sorting them into becoming either prisoners or prison guards randomly (Zimbardo, 196). Convicts grew terrified of the environment due to the prison guards’ attire and sunglasses, and the guards took advantage of the circumstance to be brutal. These two elements removed the men’s sense of accountability and solidified their authority over the captives, persuading them that they were not to blame.

The “Stanford Prison Experiment” demonstrates how people can start to cross the boundary between good and evil when there is a dispersal of duty and different circumstances. According to Zimbardo, people do not have set personalities; instead, they adapt to varied circumstances, which explains why people are not just born kind or horrible (297). Anyone and everyone may become evil-doers depending purely on the circumstances. Furthermore, given that neither of the individuals had ever previously displayed these behaviors, Zimbardo concluded that situational conditions were mostly to blame for the behavior observed (197). I realized that despite the societal roles conflicting with their moral standards, people readily comply with them.

The results of this experiment demonstrate that humans do not want to acknowledge: that most of us can experience significant character changes when caught up in the crucible of social forces. The Stanford Prison Experiment demonstrates how submissive characters can be easily subdued when one has supremacy over them. People have both good and negative qualities, and depending on the circumstance, they can act under either. “Good people can be induced, seduced, and initiated into behaving in evil ways” (Zimbardo, 211). Even though their nature is not unkind, individuals may behave brutally under the correct circumstances.

Relevance in Life

The Stanford Prison Experiment’s main clear lesson is that context matters. Contrary to what we may think, social events can dramatically impact the actions and psychological health of people, teams, and leaders. Some circumstances have such a strong hold over us that we can be moved to engage in behaviors we would not, could not, or could not have foreseen were possible.

The personality change has impacted my daily life as I have learned to understand people more. Sometimes, people place too much emphasis on a person’s genes, temperament, or conduct, but it is important to also analyze what triggers a shift in behavior in a particular circumstance. People may become evil when they are unhappy with anything in their lives; it may be a problem only they know of. The Lucifer Effect challenges people to truly understand who they are and how confident they are in what they would or would not do in unexpected behavioral situations.

Conclusion

We may change our nature toward the positive or negative aspects of human nature. The idealist perspective suggests that traits are acquired through learning, focused practice, or through an outside influence, such as being given a unique opportunity. Moreover, we can choose to be good or wicked irrespective of our character, family history, or genetic makeup. However, using the same contextual and structural approach to benevolence, the author contends that just as circumstances can turn regular people into villains, they can equally turn them into heroes. Finally, it is important to keep an eye on our surroundings lest it contributes to the spread of evil; since no one is exempt from turning evil, this affects the entire populace. While people should be held accountable for their actions, we must also look at the Situational and Systemic elements that influence how people behave.

Work Cited

Zimbardo , Philip. The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil. 1^sted., Random House New York, 2007.

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The Personality Concept in Zimbardo’s The Lucifer Effect

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