Why Good People Can Be So Evil Dan Rather

Philip Zimbardo , in his research on why good people can turn out to be evil and vice versa , found that there are three main factors underlying it , namely :

1 . Disposition ( can be regarded as a person's innate personality )2 . Situations ( certain situations can make people become evil or good )3 . System ( political , economic , etc. which creates a situation experienced by the people )

From the third case , former psychology researcher is convinced that someone has evil nature because they did have a ' seed ' evil since birth . But Zimbardo found that this is not true . He found that the environment was a greater factor in making a person into evil . In the 1970s , he conducted experiments of high risks on the matter, the " Stanford Prison Experiment " .
In this experiment , he asked for the help of volunteers willing to play the role as prison guards and inmates for 2 full weeks . The study involved people who had no history to go to jail or commit any crime , it can be said that they are all good people . From the beginning of the study , they actually scripted as prisoners , ranging from being picked up at their homes by police car and handcuffs from the police , to the rules in simulated prison located in the basement of Stanford University . The first days of the study as expected , but in a few days after that , there are events beyond expectations . The guards began to act out the instructions on the grounds ' educate ' the prisoners are not disciplined , followed by a reaction against the prisoner . There's even one prisoner until tantrums and eventually be removed from the study because of fear will find negative effects of the experiment . Because of the chaos that happens continuously, the study concluded in just over a week .
From these studies , Zimbardo concluded that environmental factors are factors that are very strong and dominant in changing someone from good to evil or vice versa ( the discovery of which defy the old theory that the disposition ( personality ) is the dominant person in changing a person's behavior . And of research , Zimbardo offers solutions , namely heroism or ' heroic ' to fight the abominable system and the resulting situation for the good of mankind .
Heroism is not a hero in the sense that Superman or the things that baffle others . The definition of heroism is the heroism in the sense of daring against a bad system , and focus on solving a bad situation better by being a little ' devian ' or different from others . Zimbardo pointed out that in the case of Abu Ghraib prison , there is someone who dared to reveal the treatment of human guards are not there to the media , namely Joe Darby . He dared to bear the terror threats just for doing ' what he should do ' . And was called a hero by Zimbardo which he poured in his book , " The Lucifer Effect