The lucifer effect: The psychology of evil

Today I watched a very thought-provoking lecture by Mr Philip Zimbardo. His lecture was about his work on the lucifer effect, which is basically the study of what, how and why seemingly good natured people can act so horrifically depending on circumstances. He goes on to mention that "good and evil are the yin and yang of the human condition" and that "there always has and always will be good and evil in the world". Below is an illustration by Artist MC Esher which Zimbardo uses to empahsize his point of good and evil in the world. 

Am I the only one who sees the devils first? ... Yikes. 

What do you see? A world filled with angels or devils. 

Zimbardo stated that from a very young age he had been intrigued with "what made people go wrong". He believes that, a majority of the time, it has less to do with the individual and more to do with circumstance and the system or the "bad barrel and the bad barrel makers" as he put it. 

His lecture touches on different experiments and scenarios in which healthy and good people turn bad and become perpetrators of evil. These include, the very well known Stanford prison study and Abu Graib abuses.

I'd hate to spoil the entire lecture so I strongly recommend you check it out for yourself: http://www.ted.com/talks/philip_zimbardo_on_the_psychology_of_evil#t-1114286

I personally found the lecture riveting and enjoyed how it questioned the morality if humanity. I like the idea that no human is evil or good, but that instead we have the capacity to be either one. 

Mr Zimbardo wraps up his lecture with the topic of heroism and how it is the anecdote to evil. His final quotes is one that I have become quite fond of and I have also decided to use it as my final quote for this post.

"The line of good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being" 

Enjoy the lecture everyone. 

T