The topic of this assignment is the psychology of evil. What causes some people to perpetrate acts of harm upon others?
First watch a 30-min documentary about the Stanford Prison Study conducted by Dr. Philip Zimbardo in 1971. Ironically, this study - although one of the most notorious in the field of psychology - was never completed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=760lwYmpXbc
Next, watch Dr. Philip Zimbardo's 23 min. TED talk on The Psychology of Evil.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsFEV35tWsg
Essay Directions-
Write a reflection paper on the psychology of evil. What does research suggest about its root causes? What remedy (or remedies) does Dr. Zimbardo propose to combat evil in the world? For full credit you must include a discussion of Zimbardo's Stanford prison study OR Milgram's obedience study and demonstrate an understanding of some of the social psychology concepts relevant to this topic, such as: social norms, social facilitation, destructive obedience, anonymity, groupthink, conformity, social roles, deindividuation, and social identity.