Monday 11 October 2010

Why ordinary people do evil...or do good?

Watch also a very interesting talk of Philip Zimbardo and comment on it.

3 comments:

  1. Zimbardo confirms that situation can change normal "nice" people into bad ones. The interesting point of his lecture is about antidote for evil. I agree that heroism is a cure and the only right choice in many situations. Actually, he doesn't say much about the reasons that make people heroes - well, he talks about courage of getting involve, but not much more. I think that there is something that make people indifferent nowadays, something that stop them against being a hero. It is relativism. Why? Because relativism messes up ideas of good and bad and helps to find a good explanation for inappropriate behavior.

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  2. What else to say? People may extremely bad in some situations. There is no need to look far away. Authority and power are a lethal combination. That feeling that you can do harm without any consequences is dreadful.

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  3. What Zimbardo proved is someting that has been used for ages by people with power. We like to think that we wouldn't be evil in a bad situation but the truth is that very few of us will behave like a hero. We are much more conformist than we think we are.

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