The Psychology Of Evil: Situated Character Transformation

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The Psychology of Evil: Situated Character Transformations

Evil is a much studied by psychologist as is the concept of goodness. One is often studied in contrast with the other. Some researchers believe we are born either good or evil. Others believe that the nature of good and evil can be changed. Three main understandings of the concept of good and evil come under the listings of Dispositional, Situational, and Systemic.
Those characteristics of dispositions are that of genetic makeup, personality traits, character, and free will. Those characteristics of situation come from the environment such as living in poverty. Systematic types of influences come in the form of leaders and or people of authority. The purpose of the research is to …show more content…

Zimbardo shows logos (logic and order) in his studies by proving that if a bad situation can bring out the worst in people, it can also bring out the best. He illustrates also logos through specifics and statistics he gives through his studies. Zimbardo creates ethos (capability) by explaining how a situation affects a person. In the Stanford Prison Experiment it was concluded that people will readily conform to social roles that they are expected to play, especially if the roles are as strongly stereotyped as with the prison guard. The “prison” environment was an important factor in creating the guards’ brutal behavior (none of the students who acted as guards showed sadistic tendencies before the study.) Therefore the findings supported the situation explanation of behavior rather than the dispositional on. These findings have also been applied to the incident of prisoner abuse in Abu …show more content…

This involves the influence that people in power have over the actions of others and the influence they have over the environment of the people. They are often referred to as the “barrel makers” or the power elite. The power elite include those involved in government, the military, and even the mafia. These people often work in a quiet, silent way to influence the actions of people. The influence often comes in the form of advertising and propaganda using the emotions of fear and hate to motivate people. Hitler and his killing of the Jews during World War II is one of the best examples of this as is genocide in

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