Analysis: “The Psychology of Evil” In this TED talk, Phillip Zimbardo brings to light how good people can become evil, and evil people can become good. After conducting a study where he placed normal, healthy college students into the positions of prisoners and guards, he discovered that some people are inherently prone to preform evil acts, and different situations or forms of power can bring this out. Since situations bring out either positive or negative traits in people, a bad situation can cause people to do unethical things. Zimbardo explains how a system or power controls a group, and in order for the situation to change, the system must change. Charles Manson and the Family exemplify Zimbardo’s ideas, because young, impressionable people were brought to do unspeakable things because of a charismatic power and tough situations. Charles Manson proved to be a charismatic leader who led his followers to commit heinous acts. In Manson: 40 Years Later, Linda Kasabian and other members of The Family talk about how their whole situation began. Manson took individuals who were young and vulnerable, and he brought them into an environment where they felt safe. He made them feel special by giving them certain tasks and complimenting them, which caused his followers to like and trust him. Because the Family consistently …show more content…
Groups today, such as gangs, lure impressionable people in by displaying charisma and promising to make their dreams come true. They gain the peoples’ trust, and then they instill fear in them. This creates a difficult situation because people fear they may lose their life if they leave the group. This helps explain why gang members commit such brutal crimes. Crimes and cults remain present, but Zimbardo and Manson provide people with knowledge behind the scenes of crime and how to stay away from
Gang violence is becoming a known threat in our country. Gang violence is defined as a group of people by repetitive socializing individuals or close friends with recognizable influence and inner coordination. These gangs will claim full control over a region in a community, town, or specific area which will lead to the involvement of violent crimes and unlawful behavior as a group or even by oneself. Since these gangs are increasing in size in communities, citizens of certain areas are beginning to move out or avoid going to these locations in order to avoid becoming the next victim to one of the community gangs waiting to engage in their next deviant act. These specific areas are located in communities that are at a poverty level, toxic areas, or environments where immigration is at it's highest. Law enforcement officials figure that these sorts of patterns bring out the characteristics of gang violence. It is known that an individual who wants to become a gang member must commit a violent crime in order to test their level of seriousness and faithfulness to their fellow brothers or, as they are known, "bloods". With the crime being committed by an individual, the physical features of a true gang member start to appear. Members or "brothers" are often easily recognized by their walk, tattoos, clothes, and colors of their clothes. Gangs are usually noted as groups of individuals who wear baggy jeans, long shirts, and bandana's of certain color. Another way to identify a gang member is by certain markings or tattoos on an individuals body. “"The modern street gang serves as an example par excellence of how geography and social networks converge to influence behavior." (Papachristos 2013). “Par excellence” is explained as ho...
Charles' marriage was only the beginning of his "family." Charlie tended to lure in young women, by saying he could "make them feel like they were on top of the world, like they were floating (Fillmer 3)." Manson used sleep deprivation, sex, food control, and drugs to gain complete control of his followers ("Charles"). The Family tended to ...
Tobin, Kimberly. Gangs: An Individual and Group Perspective. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2008. Print.
Charles Manson was an American cult leader whose followers carried out several notorious murders in the late 1960s (“Charles Manson”). Nobody would have known he was the leader of a cult which killed many. Manson's early life was a little harder than the average person. His mother left him at an early, age which made caused himself to be independent (“Interview :Mansion on Religion”). Manson’s twisted philosophies became someone's worst nightmare. A crazy, bizarre character was the reason all of these people were murdered.
For example, he shared with his followers his uncommon religious beliefs about the upcoming racial war that would result in an apocalypse. Manson hoped that murderous actions of his cult Family would hasten the end of the world. Most importantly, Charles Manson instilled two core philosophies in his followers. Firstly, he proclaimed that he was to be obeyed by every cult member. Secondly, the Manson Family was supposed to view themselves as the most special people on earth (Guinn
In the video Philip Zimbardo was talking about how evil was the exercise of power. First he went into the examples using American soldiers and how they abused prisoners during the Abu Ghraib Trials. He then went on to explain why the soldiers did this, what was the “Bad-Apples”, “Bad-Barrels”, and the “Bad-Barrel Makers”. He explained the Lucifer Effect, what makes us behave different (kind or cruel, villains or heroes, ect.). He showed an experiment where a dozen college students were given real-life prison examples and had to be stopped because most of the kids had emotional breakdowns. He explains how psychologist have attempted to understand why people act the way inhumanely in certain circumstances and explain
Charming, persuasive, and intelligent are adjectives to describe the most notorious American criminal of the nineteen sixties: Charles Manson. Conversely, these are common traits seen among many criminals throughout the United States within modern society. The only difference being the era in which Manson used Helter Skelter to rule with fear over American households. Manson was only successful in his quest for fame because of the liberal turnabout during this time. Drugs and free love are the new main ideologies of the sixties that gave Manson ground to indoctrinate the American youth into his cult.
It is surprisingly difficult to pinpoint the origin of street gangs. This may be because of the inherent nature of gangs: a group of individuals who come together for the same purpose and in the case of str...
As a population, mankind wants to believe there is a little good in all of us, but there is just as easily a little evil in all of us. No one would know better than Dr. Philip Zimbardo, of the Stanford Prison Experiment. Dr. Zimbardo is an accredited psychologist whose study is one of the most well known today. His main focus in the area of social psychology was on “what turns people bad?” This is also known as the Lucifer Effect. While the Lucifer Effect is known for turning good to evil, Zimbardo argues that it can work in both ways. Good turns to evil, and evil can turn to good. It is within the capacity of the human mind to take the path of evil, the path of inaction, or the path of the hero, but it is up for the person to decide.
The second I looked over the syllabus and read the title of this book, several questions raced through my mind. First and Foremost, I had no doubts that this was going to be a page turner. I was briefly exposed to the Standard Prison Experiment and the Milgram experiment in my social psychology class early in my college career. I was excited to find out the nitty gritty details of both experiments throughout the book. I also could not help but wonder how unfortunate it was that society has come to a point where we actually have to begin to “understand” how a good person turned “evil.” Of course, I do not lead my life thinking that everyone I come in contact with is an outstanding citizen of society, but the fact that a need has come up to write a book about how to better understand that process and the several factors that play
Morals are what distinguish humans from other animals. People are capable of understanding the complex network of emotions and relationships between each other and making choices that benefit themselves as well as others. However, the greatest phenomenon in human psychology is why people are also capable of doing bad things. We used to believe that some people are inherently bad. However, in recent history, the Zimbardo uncovered that in most cases, evil is "rarely . . . done by ‘bad apples' or rogues" (Aron). Philip Zimbardo's research reveals that good people are capable of doing bad things through conformity, blind obedience, and anonymity; these ideas can be proven by looking back at our history.
After having a ground understanding of how situational forces can make people do immoral thing through conformity and obedience, the psychology of evil: The Lucifer effect can now be explained by Zimbardo’s famous study - Stanford Prison Study. Zimbardo and his team began the experiment by choosing twenty-four healthy male students from his college with no physical or mental disorders or illness, assigned twelve of them to play prisoners role, while the other twelve volunteers were randomly assigned the role of guards. The guards were dressed and provided with wooden batons, uniforms, whistle, and even sunglasses to avoid eye contact with prisoners. Meanwhile, the prisoners were dressed with ill-fitting smocks and stocking caps with chains under their ankles, just like real prisoners. These prisoners were treated like actual criminals and guards were told to do everything they could to maintain law and order in the prison to makes the inmates respect them.
Gangs can be classified as a group of adolescents who are perceived to be a threat to society, are mostly recognized by their name and territorial power, and have been involved in numerous acts that violate criminal law procedures in North America. (Esbensen, Winfree, He and Taylor, 2001). The first theme that was present in the pieces of literature collected was the lack of opportunities. As previously stated before, becoming involved in a gang starts at a young age. An article titled “Youth Gangs and Definitional Issues: ‘When is a Gang a Gang, and Why Does It Matter?’” explicates what exactly constitutes a gang, starting with young adolescents. Using a survey conducted in the United States, Finn-Aage Esbensen, L. Thomas Winfree, Jr., Ni He, and Terrance J. Taylor (2001) surveyed over 5,000 students. The questions asked were based on how and why they chose to be in a gang (whether they were a part of it currently or before the survey was conducted). The authors concluded their research in deciding unanimously that there was a connection between a social learning theory, and the commencement of gangs. Correspondingly, Herbert C. Covey (2003) created an academic book entitled, Street Gangs Throughout the World, which gave an in-depth look at the different types of gangs across the world. Throughout several chapters, Covey looks at the root causes of how any why gangs are formed. The author noticed that there was a significant trend among young, deprived adolescents and gang membership. (Covey, 2003). Covey (2003) indicated that the more underprivileged a youth was, the more likely the chances would be of them joining a gang, which is a major concern.
Charles Mason, the leader of "The Manson Family" cult, is an ideal example of social deviancy. In Manson’s earlier years of life he engaged in many deviant acts/crimes; but, he’s infamous for being the leader of the cult responsible for the murders of Sharon Tate and Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. He was found guilty of conspiracy to commit these murders, which were carried out by members of “the family”. Tate, her unborn child, and four others were murdered on August 9, 1969 by four members of cult. The next night, Leno and Rosemary LaBianca were killed in their home. Charles Manson was found guilty January 25, 1971 and was sentenced to death March 29, 1971. Before his sentence could be carried out, the death penalty was abolished in California, so he is now serving a life sentence. Charles Manson has been called the “most dangerous man” and the “devil”. Charles Manson was an icon in the late 1960’s and is still a very well-known person today.
Hallswort, S. And Young, T. (2004) Getting Real About Gang. Criminal Justice Matters [online]. 55. (1), pp 12-13 [Accessed 10 December 2013]