The Lucifer Effect

Today’s online New York Times has an interesting video interview with Dr. Philip Zimbardo, the recently retired social psychologist from Stanford University.  Zimbardo is probably best known for the 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment, which explored how people adapt to social roles, why people conform, and the conditions under which people can treat others badly.  It is also used today as a good example of why we need to take ethics seriously in social science research and why Institutional Review Boards are important.  Zimbardo’s intereview was promoting his new book The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil, in which he takes the lessons learned from the Stanford Prison Experiment and applies them to the recent prisoner abuse case of Abu Graib.  I often show this film in my classes, to illustrate why it’s important for researchers to collect data responsibly, and I have had several class discussion relating this film to Abu Graib.  I’m now very curious to read Zimbardo’s take on this issue and I’m looking forward to getting this book.