I’m looking forward to seeing and listening to Dr. Philip Zimbardo talk about his new book, “The Lucifer Effect, Understanding How Good People Turn Evil,” this evening at C.S.U.M.B. (And lo! It’s free). The promotion says, “Philip Zimbardo presents a summary of the social-psychological (situational) elements of evil-making in his book, “The Lucifer Effect.” I first learned of Zimbardo and his famous Stanford prison experimentsduring my Clinical and Social Psychology undergraduate work at the University of Wisconsin. Zimbardo’s legendary work at Stanford in the 1970’s explored how evil can overcomes us – given the right situations.

Zimbardo is a gigantic figure in the field of social-psychology – and a playful inquiring man. Reading what the scientific world is saying about this book gives me the impression he’s just as vibrant as he was 40 years ago.

My View

I look at the subtle ways I/we facilitate (contribute to the possibility of) evil in my/our everyday lives. Little mindless decisions, petty indulgence in selfishness, insensitive lack of etiquette, and turning the other way – when subtle wrongs occur. Little decisions of incivility diminish the quality and dim the value of good character. Soon we become politically correct so as to socialize the evil of “looking the other way.” Confronting evil becomes uncivilized. Standing up for our own character values requires courage and stamina.

Civilized evil is as seductive as slipping into a moral fog while we’re sleeping. When we awaken – and wonder how it all got so bad – we’re too deeply into the fog to find our way out. Only a critical paradigm break will shake extract us from the slippery slope of evil masquerading as adolescent minds justifying as ignorance does: “Everyone’s doing it. It’s what we do. It’s okay.”

Little Moments – of Unchecked Insensitivity

Like the erosion of a mountain, or the degradation of our most tender and personal psychological needs, a way for evil can happen when the subtle erosion of hope begins. Can we be aware when we (or other people) subtly or overtly dismiss our emotional needs? Can we smell the burning platform of evil on the move when children are restrained from becoming familiar with the hope, faith and love that comes from God?

Do we know how we harden the hearts of people? Let’s look. Or maybe it hurts too much, too look.

I think a way is made for evil – in the small acts – of insensitivity. Callous people rip up the heart of good people. A runway for evil is laid where hope is frustrated – in children or adults. Evil people and insensitive acts from family and friends erode our ability to know and trust ourselves. When people keep changing the rules and rewards, children and adults alike, need to learn to leave the evil person – not themselves. These are only my thoughts tonight, before I read “The Lucifer Effect.”

I’m interested in the subtle ways we parents, partners, spouses, friends, and co-workers encourage or undermine goodness and make a “way” for evil to enter. I think evil lives in cold hearts. Cold hearts become dark hearts and closed minds. Ignorance and unmet emotional needs are like the weather that keeps the heart dark and the mind closed. I fear to learn the ways we hardened people’s hearts. Those moments we speak from narcissistic insecurity, insensitivity and selfishness, I recognize as evil .

Ah, but first – we must know the potential for evil. I look forward to Zimbardo’s book and speech tomorrow. I read that he is now studying heroism. The the character of heroism. Thank you God.

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Ironically, I’m listening to Ken Burn’s monumental documentary of WWII on PBS while writing about Philip Zimbardo’s exploration into the roots of evil in otherwise good people. How do good men go to war and come back good people? Do they become temporarily evil – and return to good? Do some remain evil? Do good people who cannot become evil temporarily – get killed more often than those who can sustain evil – in the midst of evil? Zimbardo knows – as social psychologists have benefited from his work. It’s SITUATION that facilitates evil. War – is an evil situation.