It is with sadness that we see one of the great teachers and researchers in psychology retire. I have had the great fortune to hear many lectures by Dr. Zimbardo over the years. He is sincere, devoted to psychology as a profession and science, and has great emphasis on social action issues (combined with scientific inquiry, which is rare).

His dub of his final lecture (imagine, a professor at Stanford who actually still teaches!) as the Lucifer Effect is important: you and I could easily transform from good-hearted members of society to evil creatures of destruction. What does it take? Only what Zimbardo calls the “bad barrel” (the right environment). Consider the implications: innocent young military personnel sent in to war, police sent in to crime scenes, emergency medical personnel who respond to horror.

The line between good and evil is not as defined as we would like to think. And that is
exactly what Dr. Zimbardo wishes us to ponder.

Zimbardo delivers farewell lecture on evil | March 8, 2007 | The Stanford Daily

Zimbardo delivers farewell lecture on evil

Lauded psych prof. explains “The Lucifer Effect”

March 8, 2007

By Heather Heistand

There was not a single empty seat in the psychology lecture hall yesterday morning as Philip Zimbardo, professor emeritus of psychology, delivered his final Psychology 1 lecture, “The Lucifer Effect” — an event that marked the end of his 50-year teaching career.

Yesterday’s lecture by the “Godfather” of Psychology 1 — an allusion to Zimbardo’s Bronx upbringing — focused on the psychology of evil.

Internationally recognized for his 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment, Zimbardo recently served as the president of the American Psychological Association and is the author of the best-selling introductory psychology textbook, “Psychology and Life,” now in its 18th edition. He is also the director of the new Center for Interdisciplinary Policy Education and Research on Terrorism.

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