Lafayette Journal & Courier

Do we all have a dark side? Professor says yes, we do

By DOROTHY SCHNEIDER

March 21, 2007

Most people have told some white lies, made bad choices and let people down at some point in their life.

But few believe they could have acted the same way the Abu Ghraib military prison guards in Iraq did several years ago, as shown in inmate abuse pictures that surfaced. And even fewer could picture themselves fulfilling the duties of a Nazi soldier or guard during World War II.

Yet Stamford University psychology professor Philip Zimbardo contends in a new book that under certain conditions, many people would go along with, and perhaps even participate in, a widely accepted injustice.

The book, titled The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil (Random House, $27.95), hits stores next week and touches on topics that local experts said have long-standing relevance.

"At some level, you can argue that everyone has a dark side," said David Rollock, an associate professor of psychological sciences and director of Purdue University's clinical psychology program.

"Whether you call it evil or not is a moral question, but (studies show) people have a tremendous capacity for inhumanity against other people."

Zimbardo founds much of his new publication on a two-week experiment he ran more than three decades ago simulating a prison-setting on the Stamford campus. He assembled 24 volunteer, male guards and prisoners, told the guards to keep order, to let nobody escape and to commit no violence.

But trouble started immediately, with some guards hitting captives with fists by Day 2.

Prisoners were shut into a tiny dark closet for long periods. Within a few days, partially nude captives were forced to simulate humiliating sex acts.

The experiment was halted after six days; half the prisoners had been released early because of severe stress reactions, such as physical trembling, crying and screaming. Zimbardo said the guards continued to resemble the all-American boys as they were in psychological tests taken before the experiment.

Zimbardo credited much of the behavioral breakdown to a lack of oversight and a group mentality, conditions he said were similar to Abu Ghraib.

Dr. Nizar El-Khalili, a Lafayette psychiatrist, said looking at the way teenagers act gives proof of the effects peer pressure can have, especially in younger and more isolated individuals.

"We all like to conform as part of our social fabric," he said. "We don't like to stand out, don't like to make waves."

Zimbardo told USA Today earlier this month, "That doesn't mean everyone isn't responsible for their behavior." But he thinks most people are heavily swayed in bad situations, and then return to their normal, decent selves once they're moored again in everyday routines.

Rollock said most people in this country don't want to believe the general population is capable of extremely bad behavior because it makes them feel less secure. But in other countries around the world, he said, many are in danger from their neighbors every day.

"The silver lining from this study is the flip side -- that people under the proper circumstances can rise to incredible heights," he said. "There are people who refused to (harm others)."

Gannett News Service contributed to this report.