TED 2008: How Good People Turn Evil, From Stanford to Abu Ghraib

[kristopher]

TED 2008: How Good People Turn Evil, From Stanford to Abu Ghraib
By Kim Zetter Email 02.28.08 | 12:00 AM

As an expert witness in the defense of an Abu Ghraib guard, Philip Zimbardo had access to many images (NSFW) of abuse taken by the guards themselves. Some of these images have never been published before. For his TED presentation he put together a short video of some of the pictures. The sound effects in the video were added by Zimbardo. Many of the images are explicit and gruesome, depicting nudity, degradation, simulated sex acts and guards posing with corpses. Viewer discretion is advised.
Courtesy Philip Zimbardo
View slideshow (NSFW)

Monterey, California -- Psychologist Philip Zimbardo has seen good people turn evil, and he thinks he knows why.

Zimbardo will speak Thursday afternoon at the TED conference, where he plans to illustrate his points by showing a three-minute video, obtained by Wired.com, that features many previously unseen photographs from the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq (disturbing content).

Salon.com published 279 photos and 19 videos from Abu Ghraib in March 2006, one of the most extensive documentations to date of abuse in the notorious prison. Zimbardo claims, however, that many images in his video -- which he obtained while serving as an expert witness for an Abu Ghraib defendant -- have never before been published.

Zimbardo conducted a now-famous experiment at Stanford University in 1971, involving students who posed as prisoners and guards. Five days into the experiment, Zimbardo halted the study when the student guards began abusing the prisoners, forcing them to strip naked and simulate sex acts....

http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/02/ted_zimbardo

[UncleSepp]

1. Thank you. I think we all need this reminder.

It's easy to dismiss a person who commits evil acts in such an environment as an evil person. It's comforting and feels safe. Unfortunately, it isn't realistic, and doesn't do anything to prevent the commission of the same evil acts in the future.

[gateley]

2. K&R - nt

[enigmatic]

3. Thanks for this

K&R.

[flashl]

4. Standford is not only a reminder of Abu Ghraib but the souls in jails and prisons around U.S. nt

[mmonk]

5. People look to authority figures at what is permissable

and do their jobs. While being "good" people, they do not think in deeper or real terms.

[rosesaylavee]

6. Didn't Condie go to Stanford?

:scared: What group was she in?

[hendo]

7. bump.

It is far to easy for a normally well intentioned person to do horific acts. However, that doesn't mean that those who commit horrible acts should not be punished for committing them.

I would also like to point everyone towards the "The Third Wave" study. It was similar to the Zombardo prison study, although it preceded it by 4 years. It was an experiment carried out by a highschool history professor after his students said they could not believe that anyone would have supported Hitler. The study has since been fictionalized in a short novel and an after school tv special.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Third_Wave

[madokie]

8. No doubt about it we are going to see bushco at the Hague

That I would bet on if I was a betting man

[hendo]

9. The US has a history

of not allowing Americans to be tried in the International Court, dating back to Clinton. I somehow don't see that changing any time soon.