The Lucifer effect

He Lucifer effect It is a term that is used in the field of psychology to determine how a seemingly normal and unhappy person is able to commit evil acts.

Content

• What is the Lucifer effect
• The Stanford prison experiment
• We can all commit evil acts
• Psychological processes associated with the Lucifer effect

What is the Lucifer effect

The Lucifer effect is a transformation process by which a normal individual without psychic problems ends up committing an evil act. This point is important, since this can happen to all types of people without necessarily having any type of disorder or apparent trauma.

However, there is an influence that makes this person able to lose all humanity and commit violent acts. The trigger can be any specific fact, or simply a situation that the person is going through.

This can happen in any context and at the most unexpected moment, since the so -called Lucifer effect can arise even in the daily field, without an apparent reason that leads to this change in behavior.

This term was coined by the Canadian psychologist Phillip Zimbardo, who also wrote a book in which he explained this social pathology thoroughly. This researcher dedicated much of his professional life to investigating human behavior.

The Stanford prison experiment

One of his most famous and controversial investigations was the Stanford prison experiment. The study was carried out with several volunteers who would perform the roles of guards and prisoners in a fictitious prison.

The result aroused a great controversy and had to be canceled a few days after starting, since there was an enormous lack of control. Thus, as the days passed, The guards and prisoners were increasingly assuming their role.

Many of the volunteers who served as guards increased their level of sadism day after day, especially at night when they thought the cameras were turned off. Meanwhile, those who acted as prisoners began to have quite important emotional disorders.

This experiment determined how people can get their most evil side under different circumstances, how to assume a role of power or under concrete social circumstances.

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We can all commit evil acts

Criminologists They usually point to the most atrocious acts start from a specific situation that the individual is going through. This means that the person who has this behavior and carries out the action can be conditioned by a specific context.

In fiction we can find many examples of how this change occurs. There are already mythical characters that can better show us what this phenomenon is about and how this change can occur.

This is the case for example of protagonist of the series 'Breaking Bad', One of the most controversial characters due to the evolution he experiences, going from being a person with a normal life without apparent problem to commit all kinds of violent acts and finding great pleasure in them.

What the Lucifer effect tells us is that All people can fall at a given time and under certain circumstances to cross that line that separates good and evil. This is something that can happen to anyone, regardless of their economic, social and education level that you have received.

Psychological processes associated with the Lucifer effect

Beyond that anyone is susceptible to this purpose, there are psychological and sociological processes that have been studied and that determine that people are able to transform and commit acts of this type.

One of them is the compliance of the group. The need for acceptance in a specific group can make us able to have behaviors that do not match our values but that are required to be accepted in a specific environment.

Another of the most common is that of obedience to authority. From this principle, the military hierarchy, for example, where people are able to commit violent acts because they have been ordered by their superior.

There is also an assumption known as moral disconnection. This theory is related to social learning and How this affects the person to change their values ​​system and moral codes.

In this way, we have a series of behaviors that we consider that they are not acceptable or desirable. However, the case can be given in which we integrate behaviors that have nothing to do with the principles that we consider are correct.

In short, even seemingly better people can be able to commit evil acts given the Lucifer effect. Surely after reading these lines you already have a little clearer of what this phenomenon is about and in what contexts such a case can arise. We hope this information has been useful!