We are 5 students working on a project in the social psychology field. We are interested in everything is linked with those 2 questions:
1. How the individuals or contextual factors can install or develop a reprehensible and moral behavior at ordinary subjects?
2. How the dynamic of group can lead to a reprehensible behavior at ordinary subjects?
Any suggestion, idea, feedback (on our question) it is more than welcome!
I would suggest you to look for Philip Zimbardo's work : he is the main author in the Lucifer effect literature. Additionally, since you come from Belgium and therefore I assume you speak french, I advice a great recent book by Laurent Bègue, "Psychologie du bien et du mal", in which you shall find many references and interesting findings you could be interested in.
Thank you a lot! In fact, we have already some articles of Zimbardo (we were truly interested in his work, even I asked him for some suggestions here), but there is a lot to know yet and how the human diversity is so large, is good to ask when we have the opportunity. Thank you a lot for your recommandation, it is really useful, yes, I speak also French so I will take a look. Have a nice evening.
The more recent BBC prison study might be interesting for you. It is similar to Zimbardo's original prison experiment, but leads to somewhat different findings. The authors argue that the willingness to obey (evil) authorities depends on whether people identify with the authority. Here's a link to the website and some literature:
http://www.bbcprisonstudy.org/
- Haslam, S. A. (2006). Rethinking the psychology of tyranny: The BBC prison study. British Journal of Social Psychology, 45(1), 1–40.
- Haslam, S. A., & Reicher, S. D. (2012a). Contesting the “Nature” Of Conformity: What Milgram and Zimbardo’s Studies Really Show. PLoS Biology, 10(11), e1001426. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1001426
- Haslam, S. A., & Reicher, S. D. (2012b). When prisoners take over the prison: A social psychology of resistance. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 16, 154–179.
Thank you a lot! I will check it! It is interesting this study, it resonates more with my perspective.
I would suggest checking the concept of "moral disengagement" proposed by Bandura
Dear Roxana,
Your Question is certainly thought-provoking. You might be interested in M. Scott Peck’s book: “People of the Lie: The Hope For Healing Human Evil” (1983). In his work Peck defined the characteristics of evil and discussed ‘evil’ in relation to people and their associations. He discussed real world events such as the “My Lai Massacre” to examine situational group morality. It might be of interest to compare the findings and conclusions of Peck and Zimbardo.
However, of further note, is Peck’s delving into the actual presence of the demonic within certain rare individuals. Peck apparently sought to disprove the existence of "the Devil", or the possession of certain people by a demonic presence, but his scientific observational evidence convinced him otherwise. Such groundwork studies could bring forth fascinating hypothetical questions for your research. I would be interested in hearing of your findings and conclusions.
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