The document explores how ordinary people can commit evil acts, as demonstrated through various historical and psychological examples, including the Holocaust and famous experiments like Milgram's and Zimbardo's. It highlights the factors that lead to moral disengagement and the potential for both evil and heroism within individuals, suggesting that even normal people can become perpetrators of violence under certain conditions. Ultimately, it calls for fostering a culture of heroism to counteract the dangers of apathy and inaction.

1. How Good People
Turn Evil
Jonathan Nausner
612.719 Presentation Skills

2. Violence

3. From the
very beginning...
Cain and Abel (Titian, ca 1570-1576)

4. Through all ages
Achilles dragging Hector

5. barbaric
Invasion of the Barbarians in Rome (Ulpiano Checa Sanz, 1887)

6. or enlightened,
The Execution of Marie Antoinette

7. in all
cultures
Aztec ritual
human sacrifice
(Codex
Magliabechiano)

8. for all religions
The Stoning of St. Stephan (Vittore Carpaccio, 1520)

9. for all ideologies
The Executions of the Third of May (Goya)

10. we have found ways
to hurt,
Torture tools on convict ship Success

11. mutilate,
Medieval execution

12. torture,
Torture methods used by the inquisition (18th Century)

13. kill each other.
KZ Buchenwald : Verbrennungsöfen im Krematorium

14. Our history is written in
blood.
But why?

15. Every society
views killing people as evil.

16. A Psychological
Definition of Evil
Philip Zimbardo
professor emeritus at Stanford University
„The Lucifer Effect“, Random House 2007

17. "The Exercise of Power to
intentionally
harm (psychologically)
hurt (physically) and/or
destroy (mortally) and
commit crimes against humanity."

18. Who is Evil?

19. Good Evil
„us“ „evil-doers“

20. We see Evil as an outside force
interrupting our lives.
Charles Manson

21. We consider Evil an entity,
a quality that is inherent in
some people.
Adolf Hitler

22. That turns people
into monsters.
Josef Fritzl

23. Unspeakable
cruelties must
have been
committed by
disturbed minds.
Ted Bundy

24. But not us.
We would never do
anything like this.
It‘s not in us normal people.

25. In the last 100 years
50 million people
were systematically killed.
By government decrees and
people who executed them.

26. Our century of genocides
could not be perpetrated
by psychopaths, sadists,
sociopaths alone.

27. Now what if a monster were
not a monster at all?
Hannah Arendt (1906-1975)
Political Theorist and Philosopher

28. Adolf Eichmann was in
charge of the mass
deportation and killing
of Jews.
He was responsible for
millions killed.
In 1960 Israel captured
Eichmann and brought
him to trial.
Psychologists concluded
he was mentally healthy.
Adolf Eichmann

29. "He did his duty...; he not
only obeyed orders, he also
obeyed the law."
Adolf Eichmann at his trial

30. The Banality of Evil

31. "The great evils in history
generally, and the Holocaust
in particular, were not
executed by fanatics or
sociopaths but rather by
ordinary people who
accepted the premises of
their state and therefore
participated with the view
that their actions were
normal."

32. ...did his duty...
Former Austrian President Kurt Waldheim (middle) was SA intellligence officer and must have
Adolf Hitler private
had knowledge about deportations of 40.000 people.

33. Lynching postcards

34. Not
Who is Evil?
but
What makes us Evil?

35. From Good to Evil
Understanding transformation of people
✦ Dispositional (Inside of Individual)
✦ Situational (External)
✦ Systemic (Broad influences: political,
economic, legal power, cultural
background)

36. Milgram Experiment (1961)
Stanley Milgram (1933-1984)
Social Psychologist

37. Could the Holocaust happen
again in America?

39. Learner (actor) is attached
to shock apparatus.

40. Teacher shocks Learner
for every wrong answer
with authority pressure.

41. Starts with 15 volt
Learner starts
screaming
Asks to be released
Claims heart
condition
Falls silent
Ends with 450 Volt
Warning: Deadly shock

42. So how many people would
kill the learner?
Colleagues estimated (based on the percentage of people
with violent psychological predispositions) the number
would be around 2 %.

43. Two thirds would torture
and eventually kill.
450 Volt Ended Experiment
35 %
65 %
No difference between men and women.

44. Milgram proved how easy
normal, decent people can be
coerced into sadistic, deadly
behavior.
The experiment was repeated this year in the UK for a
BBC TV documentary. The results were the same.

45. Stanford Prison Experiment (1971)
Philip Zimbardo (born 1933)
Social Psychologist

46. Zimbardo picked 24 male
students, made sure they were
healthy and mentally stable.
12 were assigned prison guards,
the other 12 prisoners.

47. On day one the prisoners were
taken in custody by real police.

48. Guards were
equipped with
uniforms and
symbols of power

49. Prisoners were reduced to numbers
and subjected to degradation rituals

51. ✦ Experiment took up life of its own
✦ Situation worsened daily
✦ Nervous breakdowns of prisoners
within 36 hours
✦ Sexual abuse (simulated sex) after
5 days
✦ After 6 days the experiment had to
be terminated.

52. Within hours good college
students had turned into
sadistic perpetrators of evil.

54. If the
Stanford Prison Experiment
was the verification by
experiment,
then Abu Ghraib was the
observation in real life.

55. The Lucifer Effect
Identifying the
7 factors on the
slippery slope
towards evil.

56. 1.Mindlessly taking the first step
„Evil always starts at 15 Volt“

57. 2.Dehumanization

58. 3.De-Individuation of self
Anonymity

59. Deindividuation
NO CHANGE CHANGED
Kill LOW 7 3 10
Torture
HIGH 1 12 - 90% 13
Mutilate
J.Watson 1971 8 15

60. 4.Blind Obedience
to Authority
5.Diffusion of Personal
Responsibility

61. 6.Uncritical Conformity to
Group Norms

62. 7.Passive Tolerance of Evil
Through Inaction or
Indifference

63. The Road to Evil
✦ Mindlessly taking the first step
✦ Dehumanization
✦ De-Individuation
✦ Diffusion of Personal Responsibility
✦ Blind Obedience to Authority
✦ Uncritical Conformity to Group Norms
✦ Passive Tolerance of Evil Through
Inaction or Indifference

64. Another aspect of
the Lucifer Effect:
The factors not only
lead to evil. Evil Good
We can change
the direction.
Inaction

65. Promoting Heroism

66. We don‘t need to aspire
being like the traditional
heroes who devoted all
their life to a cause.

67. We don‘t need our fantasy
heroes and their unrealistic
abilities as rolemodels.

68. Banality of Heroism
as counterpoint to the
Banality of Evil.
Ordinary people do
heroic deeds.

69. Christine Maslach
walked into the
Stanford Prison
Experiment and told
Philip Zambardo,
„You have to stop
what you are doing
to these boys.“
She was the only
visitor to say this.

70. Milgram revisited:
The potential of one hero.

71. Milgram also ran a study in
which the participants
witnessed a teacher
dissenting and ending the
experiment.
The result?

72. 450 Volt Ended Experiment
10 %
90 %
Deadly shocks down to 10%.

73. Heroic action
means taking a risk.
But Inaction is not
an option.

74. Joe Darby is the
Army Reservist who
leaked the photos of
Abu Ghraib.
He was forced to live
in hiding for 3 years.

75. Heroic Imagination
Think it, then do it.
Internalize this:

76. That when I
become aware
of the need to
act on behalf
of others
needing help
or being the
victim of evil
forces,

77. I will be ready and able to
take the necessary action.

78. I am a hero-in-waiting.

79. Creating a culture of heroism
www.EverydayHeroism.org

80. Thank for your attention.