Abstract
This “thought paper” will briefly examine why and how good people can turn into evil leaders. In trying to understand this behavior, I use Dr. Philip Zimbardo’s Stanford University prison experiment to demonstrate how it is possible for ordinary good people to become perpetrators of evil when given absolute power.
The Psychology of Power and Evil Leadership
Everyone has the potential to be a leader. I believe that conscience choices made on a daily basis reflect our general intentions. And these intentions are either “good” or “evil.” Everyone has the potential to choose to be either and an individual’s actions hold the ability to drive sustainable results either in a negative way or positive.
Since leadership essentially …show more content…
These cases where good leaders develop into evil ones, are rather interesting ones.
In the 1971 Stanford University prison experiment, Dr. Philip Zimbardo and his team of students, “aimed to test the hypothesis that the inherent personality traits of prisons and guards are the chief cause of abusive (evil) behavior in prison.” These students volunteered to play either the role of prison guard or prisoner, and the results after only six days of the experiment were astonishing. The planned two-week long experiment came to an abrupt end, as those students in the prison guard roles morphed into vicious dictators that began to levy psychological abuse on those in the role of inmates.
By day six of the experiment, a number of prisoners were located in fetal positions on the floors of their cells. Many were experiencing severe mental destruction as a result of the powerful levels of psychological abuse. One can only imagine what could have happened had the experiment proceeded beyond six days, let alone two …show more content…
Dr. Zimbardo underestimated the corruptive power of ungovernable authority. These prison guards, otherwise excellent, morally sound, hard-working students, repeatedly stripped prisoners bare, chained them, starved them commanded them to solitary confinement and even instructed them to clean toilet bowls with their bare hands. Absolute power has the potential to turn even the most kind-hearted individual into an evil dictator. And when there is a lack of understanding the psychology of power and evil, the act of conscientious separation between right and wrong can be extremely
This “thought paper” will briefly examine why and how good people can turn into evil leaders. In trying to understand this behavior, I use Dr. Philip Zimbardo’s Stanford University prison experiment to demonstrate how it is possible for ordinary good people to become perpetrators of evil when given absolute power.
The Psychology of Power and Evil Leadership
Everyone has the potential to be a leader. I believe that conscience choices made on a daily basis reflect our general intentions. And these intentions are either “good” or “evil.” Everyone has the potential to choose to be either and an individual’s actions hold the ability to drive sustainable results either in a negative way or positive.
Since leadership essentially …show more content…
These cases where good leaders develop into evil ones, are rather interesting ones.
In the 1971 Stanford University prison experiment, Dr. Philip Zimbardo and his team of students, “aimed to test the hypothesis that the inherent personality traits of prisons and guards are the chief cause of abusive (evil) behavior in prison.” These students volunteered to play either the role of prison guard or prisoner, and the results after only six days of the experiment were astonishing. The planned two-week long experiment came to an abrupt end, as those students in the prison guard roles morphed into vicious dictators that began to levy psychological abuse on those in the role of inmates.
By day six of the experiment, a number of prisoners were located in fetal positions on the floors of their cells. Many were experiencing severe mental destruction as a result of the powerful levels of psychological abuse. One can only imagine what could have happened had the experiment proceeded beyond six days, let alone two …show more content…
Dr. Zimbardo underestimated the corruptive power of ungovernable authority. These prison guards, otherwise excellent, morally sound, hard-working students, repeatedly stripped prisoners bare, chained them, starved them commanded them to solitary confinement and even instructed them to clean toilet bowls with their bare hands. Absolute power has the potential to turn even the most kind-hearted individual into an evil dictator. And when there is a lack of understanding the psychology of power and evil, the act of conscientious separation between right and wrong can be extremely