A Situationist Perspective on the Psychology of Evil Essay

Dr. Zimbardo uses a situationist perspective on the ways through which anti-social behavior is understood, treated and prevented. This view contrasts with the traditional dispositional perspective, which locates evil within individual predispositions and looks at a persons internal factors and traits. The situationist perspective is different in that, unlike the dispositional perspective, it often uses experimental and laboratory research to demonstrate vital phenomena, whereas other perspectives may only use archival or correlational data to suggest such answers. The main example that illustrates through experimental research and social analysis is the ease by which ordinary, good people are induced into behaving in evil ways.†¦show more content†¦We live in a world cloaked with evil; it is ironic how humans are capable of committing the most heroic, selfless acts and also the most vile and horrific ones. Lord of the Flies and the Psychology of Deindividuation This section is mainly about The Lord of the Flies by William Golding and how it illustrates that ones external physical appearance can lead to a tremendous change in ones mental state. It is really interesting how in the book, once the boys get over the initial moral dilemma of whether to kill a pig and live or whether to let the pig live and die themselves, they have no problem with killing pigs. With every killing, the death of the pig seems to become more brutal and demoralizing. At one point, they even impale the pig with a stick in the anus, proclaiming their deed in horrific valor. This goes back to sexual aggression because it can be viewed as the raping and killing of a female pig. I can justify the gradual ease of killing pigs with an example. My friend, who goes hunting often, told me about how he can manage to kill a dear without feeling bad inside. He said that the actual killing is only hard the first time and that the other times, it is relatively easy because one simp ly stops thinking about it. One thinks about the deer as the prey, not as an innocent animal minding its own business. As for the experiment with the deindividuated and individuated women, it seems to make a lot of senseShow MoreRelatedZimbardo’s Prison Study Essay1144 Words   |  5 PagesAbstract In 1971, a Stanford University psychology professor named Philip Zimbardo and a team of researchers conducted an unorthodox study involving 24 male college students who would later be convinced that they were prison inmates and prison guards in less than 24 hours. This study was voluntarily cut short after only six days due to the unexpected results which were found. 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