Philip zimbardo graduated from Yale University and has taught at Yale University, new york University, Columbia University and Stanford University. Now he is an honorary professor in the psychology department of Stanford University. His two books, Shyness and Psychology and Life, have sold more than 2.5 million copies. Zimbardo is the president of the American Psychological Association, and now he is the director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Policy, Education and Terrorism Studies at Stanford University. He edited and created the award-winning program "Exploring Psychology" of American public television, and served as the host in the film. In 2004, he was invited as an expert witness in the case of American prisoner abuse in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Because of Professor zimbardo's outstanding contribution in the field of psychology research and teaching for more than 40 years, the American Psychological Association awarded him the hilgard Prize for Lifetime Achievement in General Psychology.

Content introduction:

This book shows readers the details of the "Stanford Prison Experiment", some comparable terrible events and some conclusions drawn by the author.

A group of college students, who met for the first time, were physically and mentally healthy and emotionally stable. They were recruited to Stanford University's beautifully decorated basement "prison" and accepted an experiment. They were randomly divided into "jailers" and "prisoners" and then began a two-week experiment.

? However, the experiment lasted only one week, and the original simple college students had become cruel jailers and collapsed prisoners, so the experiment had to be terminated. It urges the author to analyze the complex human nature, the influence of "situational power" and "role" on personal behavior, and the reasons of prisoner abuse and genocide in prison. )

Dry goods essence finishing:

? In this experiment, "jailer" and "prisoner" have new roles, because they put on clothes representing their respective identities and reached an agreement with them.

Here is a psychological term "role" obtained from drama. Everyone has his own role, which has your tendency to do things, your personality and other things that you recognize enough to describe you. Just like using different uniforms to distinguish different occupations, different professional roles need different professional requirements.

Of course, my clothes really changed my personality. -william shakespeare)

Under special circumstances, when the original role is impacted by the new role, people will have contradictions and even cognitive dissonance and make inappropriate adjustments, which is why these healthy and stable college students will become "abusers" and "willing masochists", thus turning themselves into "prisoners".

(? Rationalize evil through cognitive dissonance;

? "Behavior and belief are inconsistent, and there is no correct attitude in action",

? 1, effectively stimulate "inner heart" and "privacy" to reduce the degree of imbalance.

? 2. Try to narrow the differences between beliefs and behaviors in order to achieve some functional unity. )

In the experiment, the "jailer" side was given the right of management, but it gradually became the right of abuse under the amplification of the situation.

? The taste of power when making a person's will yield is far better than winning his heart.

? -Eric Howe's Passionate State of Mind)

The "prisoner" in the experiment changed from a simple managed person to a masochist in the scene. After constant identification and internalization, he finally identified with the abuser and was willing to be a masochist.

Man coexists with the enemy-in his own heart.

? This book focuses on the causes of these terrible things, "the power of the situation."

? In the prison scene, prisoners are portrayed as "people with no characteristics" (called by numbers, forced to be naked, uniform in appearance, and the jailers can't understand their language), while the abuse in this experiment mostly occurs when they are on duty at night (they feel the least supervised by authority and don't have to abide by basic regulations).

? The operation in this case is as follows:

Dehumanization, dehumanization, hostile image, group myth, moral decoupling, social encouragement, cognitive processing capacity load

(This book also judges the "combat situation", the main reason of prisoner abuse in Abu Ghraib prison:

1. Poor leadership. 2. The command relationship between the brigade and the upper echelon is abnormal. 3. Multiple organizations and structural participation. 4. Failure to effectively supervise, certify and integrate the signing interrogators.

5. There is a lack of clear understanding of the roles and responsibilities of gendarmerie and military personnel during interrogation. 6. Lack of security measures in prisons)

Also talked about the setting of "enemies of the country":

Special cognitive training: national media publicity activities to create "enemy image"

? Goal: Accustom soldiers and civilians to hate those who fall into "your enemy".

? (Causing people to panic, all fragile fears will turn into hatred) Use abstract concepts to shift the focus of attention.

This book also gives us a warning about "evil":

? The only thing necessary for the victory of evil is to be kind to the people who stand by.

? Evil grows from ordinary thoughts and is put into practice by ordinary people. This is always a universal law, not an exception.

? We should be in the extended present tense.

One last thing to remember.