The Lucifer Effect Analysis

Morality is a necessary character in interactions or organizations. Generally, the words “right” and “wrong” are antonym and the meanings are used to define the positive and negative even though we are taught not to judge what other people do. However, the ideas of black and white or right and wrong in morality are difficult to determine because we usually use our own measurement to judge others based on our beliefs, experiences and knowledge. In reality, there are not only black and white but the grey area also is existed where good people can do bad things and where bad people can do good things. According to Philip Zimbardo, psychologist and a professor at Stanford University, the line between bad and good isn’t fixed but it is movable and
The “Psychology of Evil” intends to explain the transformations of human character, and the Lucifer Effect shows how it changes and forms the “me” in a group or an organization. According to Zimbardo, the three factors which are dispositional, situational and systemic that the “system creates the situation that corrupts the individuals, and the system is the legal, political, economic, cultural background.” In the other words, the system is the environment where we live, work and interact with others, and our behaviors will change in order to adapt and fit into that environment. According to Mead's theory, the “me” is considered as the socialized aspect of an individual and the “me” refers to attitudes, roles, meanings, pressure, behaviors and values of others which are organized into one’s self through the agency of role-taking. Children are the group who has significantly impact from others because we are born as a blank piece paper and children would become a moral or immoral people depend on who and where they live. If they live in a place where everyone behave wisely to other, they are more likely to become “angel” and if they live an environment where is full of drugs, crimes and killings, they are more likely to become “evils.” Similarity, adults, especially employees” are influenced by companies and their managers or bosses’ attitudes in order to adapt into the workplace environment. Take Enron as example again, by influencing of
Zimbardo mentions seven slopes to evil but the most of common ones and difficult to recognize are mindlessly taking the first small step and diffusion of personal responsibility. Most people don’t see themselves as evil because they always makeup a story for their wrongdoings and they are not directly responsible for an issue. According to self-justification strategies, we will find a way or an excuse to convince ourselves that it’s not our faults or something nicer in positive situation to make us feel better. Zimbardo uses Milgram experiments as an example that evil start with a small 15 volt and increases at 15V intervals up to 450V. Because of self-justification, when increasing the volt of electricity, the participants won’t feel shame and guilt for their immoral behavior since the technician would take full responsibility for consequences. Recently, there are a lot of chemical and fake products as rice, eggs and beef in Asia market. At the beginning, store owners only purchase those products even knowing they are fake since they are inexpensive and if they don’t sell it, others do. Later, many of them end up producing and selling them to make