1/15
@dana_alushe asked me to briefly explain the lucifer effect. which i will explain using the Stanford prison experiment but roughly its a look into how/why people act out in evil ways

2/15
so like the main guy behind this theory is Philip Zimbardo but i will be mentioning other studies to clear the picture.
so the conclusion I am going to reach will revolve around the idea that systems and institutions play a significant role in "evil" behaviour

3/15
Stanford prison experiment was a psychological experiment to find out the possible reasons as to aggression of police officers in prisons or something like that.
it was a small experiment made up of young man, who responded to the ad in the newspaper

4/15
it's worth noting that the individuals chosen where normal young men and there was no difference between those chosen to be prison guards and those chosen to be prisoners, straight-up coin toss

5/15
the experiment had shown how those who had been placed as police officers began to be aggressive and abused their powers, degrading, humiliating and causing all other psychological harms to the prisoners.
2 days into the experiment

6/15
the experiment lasted about 6 days, with several of the prisoners having emotional/mental breakdowns due to the experience and it was actually stopped because an external individual had witnessed what happened and had told Zimbardo to stop, as it had gone too far

7/15
even he had not realized or was indifferent has he had sunk into his role as a prison warden and had allowed the experiment/police to continue and only later realized the error of his way

8/15
a similar experiment conducted had normal people shock people to help facilitate memory.
the shock wasn't real but the individuals being experimented on where not aware of that (the participants where those "shocking" people)

9/15
the experiment found that majority of the groups in the all 16 studies, willingly shocked people with higher voltages when they discovered that they wouldn't be responsible for what happened to the individual, even taken it up to a voltage that was labelled as lethal

10/15
so the lucifer effect is titled that due to the story of Lucifer being Gods favourite to being the embodiment of evil. somewhat being symbolic of how good people could be evil based on the circumstances

11/15
I believe the main draws of the study was to be aware that certain institutes and systems in place are built on themes of tyranny and aggression and if not addressed the systems allow for such elements to be expressed.

it addresses power without supervision is harmful

12/15
those two elements combined would allow people to easily conduct themselves aggressively or basically evil.
if the system/institute itself is dodgy/violent/aggressive or build on terror
when you leave people unsupervised more harm comes out of it

13/15
but this isnt just limited to institutes but also in our everyday lives as it opens conversations on conformity and complacency to evil.
we go with the flow or we don't speak up or we don't act for the greater good.
as our system tells us to not stand up to such

14/15
and challenges the idea that it isn't just sadistic people who do these things but individuals like you or me are capable.
but there is a positive because it reminds us that there isn't a fixed line of good or bad.
anybody can go from being good to being bad

15/15
but more importantly, it expresses that people can go from being bad to being good.

but ya here is a link of a TEDtalk by Zimbardo himself.

link: