The Lucifer Effect: How Good People Turn Evil

"How can good people become evil? How can honest people be induced to behave illegally, and moral people seduced to act immorally? The answers to such questions lie at the heart of this fascinating exploration of the darker side of human nature by the award-winning psychologist Philip Zimbardo. Examining the causes of evil, Zimbardo provides the first in-depth analysis of his classic Stanford Prison Experiment. He describes how a group of ordinary students was placed in a mock prison and how, in less than a week, the study had to be terminated when the 'guards' became increasingly sadistic and the 'prisoners' pathological. He considers the findings of the experiment and its relevance to society today (not least at the Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay prisons), raising fundamental questions about the nature of good and evil - and how and why most of us could be initiated into the ranks of evil doers."--P. 4 of cover.