1. Review Paper by: Nicole Whitcomb Advanced General Psychology December 2010
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Notas del editor
What made me decide to do this paper was my fascination with the Stanford Prison experiment, Stanley Milgram’s shock experiment, and more recently the events at Abu Ghraib. All events had people who were seen as average nice people but were given power or were told by an authority to do what could be seen as evil acts. What would you do in the same situation? Stay true to yourself or begin to do evil things?
Philip Zimbardo’s famous Stanford Prison experiment is well known in the psychology community and will never be fully replicated again due to the ethical issues that came from it. In Zimbardo’s book The Lucifer Effect (2007) he discusses just what my overall paper is about, good people who do evil things and the possible reasons why. Researching the Stanford prison experiment, Milgram’s shock experiment, and Abu Ghraib gave me a better idea of what types of influences cause normally good people to act out in an evil manner. It came down to those people being put into a power situation or the power of authority; some people argue that all people have the ability to make decisions even when pressured by a higher authority. What do you think, is it possible to break through that feeling of power and maintain the good side of you or is temptation to hard to resist?
This reference by Begley (2009) looks into what makes some of us saints and some of us sinners. This paper looks into the Stanley Milgram shock experiment; this experiment had seemingly ordinary people be told by an authority (experimenter) to shock a stranger. Because of the authority figure most participants complied and shocked the stranger when told to do so, along with increasing the shock’s voltage. Fortunately the shock that was given was not real but the participants didn’t know this going into the experiment. Strengths of this article were that it showed that ordinary people can be influenced into doing just about anything considering they shocked a complete stranger with a high level of electricity.
Collins (2000) demonstrates an experiment that was done in recent years to show the similarities in the Stanford Prison experiment and the impact of low and high power roles can have on the behavior of men and women. This paper was helpful in backing up what was done with the Stanford Prison experiment by looking at more recent activity of both men and women when given low and high power roles.
Danchev (2008) discusses how the events at Abu Ghraib have had quite an impact on our society, this article was helpful with explaining what happened at Abu Ghraib. Overall the events that happened there were horrific and unimaginable. It’s hard to believe that ordinary good men and women were capable of doing such things to others, but it shows that the power of authority is sometimes hard to escape. But at the same time could any of them just said no? One man was able to come out and say no and in turn became the hero in this situation.
This article from Discover (2007) asks the question, “Think you’re above doing evil? Think again.” It really makes you think if you were put into a similar situation as those at Abu Ghraib or the participants in the Stanford Prison Experiment, would you be able to stop yourself from doing evil things or would the power role or power of authority be too much? This article does a great job of drawing comparisons between Abu Ghraib and the Stanford Prison experiment.
Einolf (2009) reviews four books that look into the events at Abu Ghraib, these four books include; The Trials at Abu Ghraib, The Lucifer Effect, Torture and the Twilight of Empire, and Torture and Democracy. Einolf stated that people who could be potentially in the situation to do evil things upon others should be formally trained so events like the ones at Abu Ghraib can be prevented.
Finkelstein (2009) is arguing that everyone is capable of making judgment calls on whether or not to take part in evil acts, even if under the pressure of an authority or are put into a power situation. He touches on a case that involves a man named John Demjanjuk or more commonly known as Ivan the Terrible. John’s defense is saying that John was forced by higher authorities into being bad, was he so influenced that he had to do what he was told or did have a choice? Finkelstein also looks at Milgram’s shock experiment and Zimbardo’s study.
Shermer (2007) discusses bad apples and bad barrels, saying that it is not the apple it is the barrel the apple is in. Meaning that an ordinary person is influenced by their surroundings making them act out. He also says that all humans have an evil side and a good side, but I believe that some people’s evil side may never come out which is probably for the better.
Wallis et al (2004) looks into the Stanford prison experiment, Abu Ghraib, and Milgram’s shock experiment. This article goes in depth about people being influenced by authorities or are given power they have never had before; so like in the Stanford prison experiment the participants of were given the role of a prison guard had never had that type of power before which is why it went out of control.
Zimbardo (2007) the creator and experimenter behind the Stanford Prison Experiment revisits the events that occurred. He discusses good apples in bad barrels and bad barrel makers. Zimbardo has spent a majority of his life researching just why it is that good people can be brought to do evil things.
Zimbardo’s 2007 book called The Lucifer Effect, was extremely compelling and was able to explain how and why all people are susceptible to the lure of the “dark side”. He thoroughly explains his own experiment as well as the events at Abu Ghraib, I felt as if this was my strongest reference while doing my research on what makes good people do evil things?
This is a look into the articles and which ones support each other and which ones contrast from each other. Overall many psychologists believe that ordinary good people are influenced by higher authorities or power situations, which cause them to do evil acts. Most people that participate in those evil acts are surprised by themselves and question why they were so influenced.
In order to further research questions need to be asked, one that could be asked is what type of authority is needed in order to make an average person do bad things? A police officer, a scientist, teacher, etc. This question may bring to light what authorities are seen as having more power and how much influence it really takes to have a good person do evil things. Another question that could be asked is what type of people are more likely to fall into doing evil things, a confident person, shy person, etc? I wonder if the people who participated in the events at Abu Ghraib, the Stanford Prison Experiment, and Milgram’s experiment thought that they were capable of doing such things. I feel as if these questions could help further the research that is currently happening.
The research question, what makes good people do evil things? Goes right along with the resources that I have found because the resources give an inside look and possible reasons why ordinary people do evil things. Among the resources psychologists and researchers agree that ordinary people are influenced into evil by either power situations or powerful authority. One skeptic says that people are fully capable of making moral choices and a power situation or a powerful authority is no excuse.
The events at Abu Ghraib put into perspective that all people are capable of being evil even if they don’t believe that they can be. The horrific acts at Abu Ghraib were committed by people who were seen as ordinary prior to the events. It is unfortunate and somewhat scary that people are capable of doing such things when influenced by authority.
Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison experiment showcases that even ordinary college students are capable of being influenced by power situations. In the experiment a select amount of college students were given the role of being a prison guard and some were given the role of being the prisoner, within days the “guards” were treating the “prisoners” badly and unfairly bringing the “prisoners” close to insanity. The experiment got out of control and had to be stopped, this shows that a power situation can cause “ordinary” people to act out.
Milgram’s experiment is a perfect example of ordinary people doing evil things when influenced by an authority or in this case an experimenter. The participants were told that they were to give a complete stranger an electrical shock if that person gave a wrong answer to a question, and to increase the voltage with each wrong answer. Though the participant could hear the stranger crying in pain most continued with the shocks because they were told to do so by a higher authority. Fortunately some participants opted out and didn’t want to continue on with hurting the stranger.
Overall this research paper shows that being put into a power situation or being influenced by an authority can bring ordinary people to do horrific things to others. Unfortunately this will never change and people will continue to act out if put into a wrong situation.
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