The Lucifer Effect [CH 1] What is it?

For centuries scientists have been trying to understand what makes "good" people turn "bad." In 1971, an experiment lead by Philip Zimbardo at Stanford University and other researchers, selected 24 normal college students to be prisoners and 51 to be guards in a mock prison--commonly known as the Stanford Prison Experiment. The results were shocking. In only six days, the guards had become so abusive that the study was shutdown. The leading officers "adapted to their roles" even more than Zimbardo had dreamed--even torturing prisoners. Some of the prisoners developed "passive attitudes" and accepted the physical abuse inflicted by the guards. Even Zimbardo thought of himself as the "Prison Superintendent" and allowed the abuse to continue for longer than it should have (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_prison_experiment).

The Lucifer Effect happens when people choose to change their thoughts or actions based on suggestions and the journey (or the chain of actions and reactions) leaves more bad than good results. Suggestions can be direct or implied and can come from a variety of sources i. e. our environments, advertisements, movies, books, other information, other people, groups of people, and society.

One hotly debated moral issue asks is torturing worth the information? Some will say no because the act allows the desire for cruelty to grow inside a person or society. Historically, human beings have been gruesomely cruel like when the Huguenots "hacked to pieces" Catholic children, disemboweled a priest, and buried another priest alive around 1607. Still others will say yes because of terrorists who are willing to shed innocent blood. Those others will argue that the "ticking time bomb scenario" is the only justifiable case. However, we are left with some very critical questions: What will the results make us feel? What will other countries and people feel towards us? Will there be more "justifiable" scenarios to come? If so, how many and when will the cruelty come to an end? (http://www.lucifereffect.com/guide_conform.htm,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ticking_time_bomb_scenario,http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel01.html)