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Philip Zimbardo's Lucifer Effect

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When history is viewed in retrospect, Hitler is remembered as one of the most insane, inhumane, and impure people to ever live, as he was notorious for his massive genocide nicknamed “Final Solution.” But in order to carry out this plan, Hitler had to convince thousands of innocent Germans to give up their daily aspirations and blindly abide to the malicious deeds of Hitler. Why did thousands of good people decide agree to Hitler's orders? How was Hitler able to capture the attention of these people and alter them from samaritans of Germany to corrupted individuals who blindly abided to all of his commands? How did he maintain this power for such an extended period? Philip Zimbardo’s research on the “Lucifer Effect,” Milgram’s experiment, and …show more content…

Milgram’s experiment, and the two prison experiments both prove the effect of group hysteria on one’s decision making. In the Milgram experiment, it was discovered that 65% of the participants continued to the maximum voltage. When the first person continued to the maximum voltage, it was discovered that 90% of the remaining participants would continue to maximum voltage (Milgram video), which proves how group hysteria affects a person’s decision making. In the prison experiments, it was the group hysteria that provoked the guards to cumulatively harass the the prisoners. It was the group hysteria that diluted any opposition towards the inhumane practices of the guards. Likewise, the group hysteria during the Salem Witch Trials and in the novel, The Lottery, highlight how evilness can quickly spread through the influence of a group. During the witch trials, the hysteria among Abigail and her cult provoked Mary Warren to join in the witchcraft accusations. Originally, Warren “swear[ed] that she never saw familiar spirits” (Miller 93) to defend John Proctor. In addition, she wasn’t able to faint to prove that the accusations were pretense as she “had no sense of it” (Miller 95) due to her disaffiliation with the mass hysteria. However, when Abigail pretends that she was cursed by Mary, the other girls proceeded, eventually instigating Mary to retort to the group hysteria. Correspondingly, evilness rooted within group hysteria can also bee seen in “The Lottery”. In this fictional story, a lottery is held every year to sacrifice a person, to allow the crops to grow and thrive. The person that will be sacrificed is chosen from a black box, and on this specific year, Tessie, the protagonist, was chosen to be inhumanely stoned. Tessie claimed that the process “isn’t fair” (Jackson 8), and the average reader would agree that the system was asinine.

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Her manipulations were powerful enough to brainwash a crowd, leading others to believe everything she said. Her clever assumptions deceived the girls of Salem into mimicking Mary Warren's words (Act 3, Line 471, HMH). Mary, a frightened young girl, was one of the many accused women in Massachusetts. Abigail portrayed Mary’s character as one who participates in witchcraft, which allowed her to lead others into her trap: believing that Mary Warren is a witch. This has resulted in an act of peer pressure, causing a chain reaction in the community.

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1093 Words | 5 Pages

Hysteria was raging throughout the Puritan town of Salem, with ordinary people being hunted down and accused of witchcraft as young women berate their fellow commoners. Abigail Williams, an eighteen-year-old girl who had just committed a sin, was trying to put the shame of it behind her. As most teenagers, to cover up that she was drinking a charm to kill Elizabeth Proctor, she told an even bigger lie. She falsely accused innocent citizens of witchcraft, and given the severity of the claims, a court with judges was found to investigate the accusation of witchcraft. Salem found over a hundred citizens to be sinful, with witch hunts that continued to rage through the Puritan society due to their religious beliefs, the people’s fear, and manipulation.

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As we dive into the mysterious characters, and analyze the symbolism, we uncover the disturbing consequences of blindly following tradition, and the brutality of small-knit communities. In the annual lottery, all the townspeople gather for a lottery where they each take lots and one person is selected to be stoned to death. It is a stunning description of the villagers' mindless loyalty to tradition without critical thought.

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2207 Words | 9 Pages

As the disasters that befell Salem were caused by the young girls ' hysteria of witchcraft, some of Miller 's critics perceived Abigail and her squad of followers as maleficent and vindictive driven by anger, cruelty and personal interests. Elizabeth Frayn interprets the hostility of the girls as a natural reaction to the negative view they receive in their society. For instance, Abigail is always regarded as a malicious girl who seeks to supplant Elizabeth as Proctor 's wife, and she is further motivated by Proctor 's threat to expose their affair if she does not clear his wife 's name ( Frayn 95). The girls are controlled by a fanatic society. Like Abigail, each of those girls has her own cause to be angry and simulate to kill her victims.

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2033 Words | 9 Pages

Adolf Hitler uses anxiety and fear and wields an emotional appeal to promise a cure for the dejection occurring in Germany. Hitler successfully tapped into the emotions of the German citizens who felt that Germany was suffering and that there was no one to hear their voice. He kept on repeating his message, again and again, playing on the fears of the people even as he promised to solve their problems. Not only did he make them feel they needed him, but he made sure they truly believed there was nobody else that could do what he can; this physiological method put the German people in a corner, giving them no choice, but to put their faith and trust into his hands. The Führer was able to manipulate a majority of Germany, including Irmgard Hunt’s family, into believing his hopeful lies.

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In the text of the lottery by Shirley Jackson the people are evil by circumstance because the community was forced to sacrifice someone and kill them altogether in order to ensure successful harvests for the rest

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In accordance with the assigned readings, heroism is an plausible antidote to evil. For instance, as explicated by Zimbardo in Chapter 16 of The Lucifer Effect, he defines the notion of heroism, by which he writes, “ … they serve as powerful reminders that people are capable of resisting evil, of not giving in to temptations, of rising above mediocrity, and of heading the call to action and to service when others fail to act” (Zimbardo). From this, he demonstrates how heroism is illustrated as one’s resistance to acts of evil, which may include acts of violence, or anything within the scope that is not beneficial to the receiver. In his view, a hero is one who is able to break the mold, an individual who will not sit still if a wrongdoing is

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114 Words | 1 Pages

Philip Zimbardo’s book called The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil raises the fundamental question about human nature, “How is it possible for ordinary, average, even good people to become evil?” The book describes the Stanford Prison Experiment as an example of the operation of the inner nature of the person, the situation, and the higher-order system effects that causes people to turn evil. The Stanford Prison Experiment extended that analysis to demonstrate the surprisingly profound impact of institutional forces on the behavior of normal, healthy participants. Philip Zimbardo, PhD, and his research team of Craig Haney, Curtis Banks, David Jaffe, and ex-convict consultant, Carlo Prescott (Zimbardo, Haney, Banks, &

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809 Words | 4 Pages

The dishonesty, brainwashing and manipulation exhibited by Abigail Williams, Mary Warren and the court is ultimately what allowed the witch trials to occur and to continue. Although Abigail wasn 't the only girl to make that initial cry of witchcraft, she was the leader of the girls who did. When Betty Parris and Ruth Putnam had faked illness to avoid punishment for getting caught dancing in the woods, it was Abigail who manipulated all the girls involved into lying about it. She threatened them, saying “Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I

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801 Words | 4 Pages

She demonstrates her manipulation when she threatened the girls with “ And mark this, let either of you breathe a word or edge of a word about other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shutter you” (miller 19). Abigail was very ruthless from beginning to end to save herself. Friends soon turned on each other. Mary Warren was fearful because John Proctor is now making her tell the Salem courts Abigail and the others are lying. This fear is demonstrated when she says “ I cannot, they’ll turn on me” (Miller 76).

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1813 Words | 8 Pages

“Hitler used his military experience to win over the support of the general population, as well as winning the support of military leaders (Pellas, print).” He also put a lot of thought into the way he presented himself to the public. Hitler strived to be the most authentic German to ever live, which made these factors crucial for his message to gain support (Sherratt, print).“Hitler played on national resentments, feelings of revolt and the desire for strong leadership using all the most modern techniques of mass persuasion to present himself as Germany's redeemer and messianic saviour (Jewish Virtual Library,

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1179 Words | 5 Pages

The Stanford Prison Experiment tells the compelling story of twenty-four young men who discover how easy it is for a good person to turn into a bad person in just a short period of time. The experiment was held at Stanford University in 1971. It was conducted by a group of researchers led by psychology professor, Philip Zimbardo, using students who attended the university at the time. The whole experiment itself was held in Jordan Hall in the basement of the school using two rooms as cells. Funding for the experiment was done by the U.S. Office of Naval Research and grasped the interest and curiosity of the U.S. Navy as well as the Marine Corps.

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1297 Words | 6 Pages

“Millions are ready to give unquestioning loyalty to Any Man Who Would promise them what they most needed; law and order, a sense of purpose, and above all, belief in themselves. ”(Netflix “Hitler--A Career”). Germany was in a state of crisis when Hitler rose to power, so they clung to him as much as possible, even if he was a terrible person. Hitler was a very calculated man, so he knew how to win over an audience. “Hitler was obsessed with the idea of superiority in the “pure” German race, which he called “Aryan”.

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751 Words | 4 Pages

But the mainly because everyone thinks she is a witch. Due to the women in the court room continuously repeating it with details to support, making everybody believe Mary warren is a witch. Mary was the one caught in the dancing in the forest and being accused of witch craft. When Mary was in court she admitted she was witch craft but, also made everyone to think it was an act. In act 2 page 80 Mary Warren is pressured by Proctor to go to court and confess that Abigail is guilty.

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682 Words | 3 Pages

In the fervor of the witch trials, Abigail is put on a pedestal by the people of Salem and treated as though she has a direct connection with the Divine. Through cold calculation, Abigail carefully selects the people that she accuses in order to establish her credibility. Thus, she first accuses the town’s social deviants, as she knows the court is already predisposed to convict them. Soon a mere accusation from her becomes enough reason to convict even important, influential people. Abigail uses the witch hysteria that consumes Salem to secure herself from accusation, and gain control of the trials by accusing respectable people, before moving on to Elizabeth, and then in her desperation, she manipulates Mary Warren into eventually accusing John.

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