The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil

'The Lucifer Effect' - Prof Philip Zimbardo's talk: How is it possible for ordinary, average, even good people to become perpetrators of evil?

A Talk by Philip G Zimbardo on 'The Lucifer Effect: How good people turn
evil'

ALL WELCOME

On behalf of the Institute of Criminology, and The Well-being Institute, University of Cambridge, we warmly invite you to hear a talk by American Social Psychology legend, Emeritus Professor Philip G. Zimbardo, who has written a book, 'The Lucifer Effect: how good people turn evil', in which he attempts to understand and explain, for example, the torture by American soldiers (male and female) of the individuals in their custody at Abu Ghraib Jail, 20 miles west of Baghdad.Professor Philip Zimbardo acted as expert witness for one of the senior American guards prosecuted, (who received an 8 year sentence), and so had unlimited access to all photographic evidence and the transcripts of all prosecution and defense testimonies.

Phil's new book (published 15 March, 2007 by Random House)explores in depth and with caring, the psychological and spiritual potential for evil as well as heroism, that he concludes lives in all of us. Tellingly, his book's last sentence quotes from the Gulag veteran and Nobel laureate, Alexander
Solzenitsyn: 'The line between good and evil is in the center of every human heart'.

During his week in England, he will be interviewed by a host of broadsheets, and is scheduled to appear on Radio 4's Start the Week, as well as other national media.

Now age 74, Philip grew up in the economic poverty of an immigrant family in New York C
City's South Bronx ghetto, and rose to be the 2002 Elected President of the American Psychological Association (and its 150,000 members). He researched for some 47 years mostly at Stanford University where, as you know too well, he first came to world-wide attention with his Stanford Prison Experiment in the early 1970s. In his time, Phil has also researched as broadly as
Shyness, Evil (violence, torture, terrorism), and Hypnosis (visit www.Zimbardo.com). He is married with three grown-up children.

Visit: www.LuciferEffect.org

We look forward to seeing you at this timely and interesting event.

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