I think Zimbardo is wrong. He's an anti-war leftist, Dr. Id posted a message from him on FADG. He says the US started the war in Iraq based on lies with a hidden agenda and so forth. He's one of those people who "knows" that "Bush lied." Not sure whether he thinks it's all about the Joooos and/or the Neocons and/or oil and/or capitalism and/or Bushs' corporate buddies, but he "knows" the truth.
He's a whacko.
His research "proves" that we're all capable of evil. Well, sorry, but in that situation, I know for a fact that I wouldn't have gone along with it, if only because I am a loose cannon and don't kowtow to authority.
More importantly, I have an internal locus of control. Many do. Many don't, it's true, but the ones who do are sufficient to disprove the experiment.
People with internal loci of control don't conform when conforming violates their personal integrity. People with external loci of control conform because they don't have a strong sense of personal integrity. The man who ratted out the scumbags in Abu Ghraib had some personal integrity, it remains to be seen how much.
Whistleblowers have internal loci of control.
Erich Fromm thought the experiment was unscientific and conducted in such a way as to prove Zimbardo's hypothesis. I agree with Fromm. That's not the way real scientists conduct experiments. After this experiment, Zimbardo never did any significant research, he became an administrator. It got him tenure, so he got what he needed. |
