> Skip to content
  • Published: 1 May 2008
  • ISBN: 9781846041037
  • Imprint: Rider
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 576
  • RRP: $22.99

The Lucifer Effect

How Good People Turn Evil




A fascinating exploration of how, under certain circumstances, the human character can be transformed from good to evil, now in paperback

In The Lucifer Effect, the award-winning and internationally respected psychologist, Philip Zimbardo, examines how the human mind has the capacity to be infinitely caring or selfish, kind or cruel, creative or destructive. He challenges our conceptions of who we think we are, what we believe we will never do - and how and why almost any of us could be initiated into the ranks of evil doers.

At the same time he describes the safeguards we can put in place to prevent ourselves from corrupting - or being corrupted by - others, and what sets some people apart as heroes and heroines, able to resist powerful pressures to go along with the group, and to refuse to be team players when personal integrity is at stake.

Using the first in-depth analysis of his classic Stanford Prison Experiment, and his personal experiences as an expert witness for one of the Abu Ghraib prison guards, Zimbardo's stimulating and provocative book raises fundamental questions about the nature of good and evil, and how each one of us needs to be vigilant to prevent becoming trapped in the 'Lucifer Effect', no matter what kind of character or morality we believe ourselves to have.

The Lucifer Effect won the William James Book Award in 2008.

  • Published: 1 May 2008
  • ISBN: 9781846041037
  • Imprint: Rider
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 576
  • RRP: $22.99

About the author

Philip Zimbardo

Philip Zimbardo is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Stanford University and has also taught at Yale, NYU and Columbia. He was elected President of the American Psychological Association in 2002. Widely respected as an innovative researcher and writer, he presented the award-winning video series Discovering Psychology. www.zimbardo.com

Also by Philip Zimbardo

See all

Praise for The Lucifer Effect

Professor Zimbardo deserves heartfelt thanks for disclosing and illuminating the dark, hidden corners of the human soul.

Vaclev Havel, former President of the Czech Republic

An important book...all politicians and social commentators should read it

Sunday Times

Formidable

Observer

This important book is very readable

Spectator

Zimbardo's anatomy of human psychology and contemporary culture is as scholarly as it is scary

Brian Keenan

Detailed and absorbing...masterly and honest

Mary Warnock, Times Higher Education Supplement

One of the most distinguished social scientists of our age

Catholic Herald

"The Lucifer Effect" will change forever the way you think about why we behave the way we do--and, in particular, about the human potential for evil. This is a disturbing book, but one that has never been more necessary.

Malcolm Gladwell, author of Blink