Lucifer Effect: No one can guarantee that they will always be good people

Are you a good person?

It is estimated that when the vast majority of people hear this question, the answer is yes.

Are you really a good person?

Ask again, and the answer should be yes.

Are you sure you're a good guy?

When asked the third time, some people may begin to doubt in their hearts.

Is human nature good? Or is it evil?

The Analects have clouds: At the beginning of man, nature is inherently good. We ancients believed that sex is inherently good.

But the West generally believes that sex is inherently evil.

Whether human nature is good or evil is an age-old question.

Philip Zimbardo, a psychologist at Stanford University in the United States, conducted a classic experiment in order to demonstrate this problem - the Stanford Prison Experiment.

Philip Zimbardo built a mock prison and recruited 24 male college student volunteers, who were divided into two equal groups, one as a prison guard and one as a prisoner, while Philip himself played the warden.

After the experiment began, no one entered the role.

So the warden stepped in, and the guards began to learn to suppress the prisoners.

After 36 hours, one prisoner developed hysterical symptoms due to excessive mental stress and had to withdraw from the experiment.

After 48 hours, all the prisoners began to be tortured to the brink of collapse by the guards.

At this time, even the prison guard himself entered the role, and when he saw the prison guard punishing the prisoner, he even excitedly said to his girlfriend: "Come and see, this scene is really wonderful!" ”

By the 6th day of the experiment, the scene was completely out of control.

In the end, the warden had to terminate the experiment after a strong protest from his girlfriend.

The experiment is also an inextricable classic experiment in the history of social psychology, also known as the "Lucifer effect" in Murphy's Law.

Why is it called the "Lucifer Effect"?

Because "Lucifer" is an alias for Satan the Devil.

We can also see that in this experiment, the evil of human nature is completely released.

In fact, all the people in the experiment, whether they are volunteers who play prisoners, volunteers who play prison guards, psychologists who play prison chiefs, are good people in real life.

However, in a different environment, when you are substituted into a specific role, your original rejection or even scorn is revealed.

So, you say, is human nature inherently good or inherently evil?

Good and evil will actually exist in our human nature at the same time, and perhaps evil, buried deeper, will not be easily revealed in ordinary times.

The seed of "evil" is hidden in our hearts, but once there is a suitable soil, the seed will slowly sprout and grow, and if we are not aware of it, or let it develop, the seed will grow into a tree, hurting others at the same time, but also eating ourselves.

There was once a very famous public figure who expressed such a point of view, which probably meant that he felt that he was still a good person at least now, but he could not guarantee that he would be a good person for the rest of his life, because he did not know whether he would one day be a good person when money and power were in his own hands.

There is a British proverb: "Everyone has a skeleton hidden in their wardrobe".

All this reminds us that we must follow the teachings of our ancestors: the heart of harming others must not be there, and the heart of preventing people must not be without. For ourselves, we must always remind ourselves to maintain a kind heart, and for others, we must not neglect to take precautions when facing others.

#心理学 #