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Dehumanization is like a cortical cataract that clouds one’s thinking and fosters the perception that other people are less than human.
Dehumanization is like a cortical cataract that clouds one’s thinking and fosters the perception that other people are less than human.
The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven. —John Milton, Paradise Lost
The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven. —John Milton, Paradise Lost
the barrier between good and evil is permeable and nebulous.
“knowing better but doing worse.”
Most of us hide behind egocentric biases that generate the illusion that we are special. These self-serving protective shields allow us to believe that each of us is above average on any test of self-integrity.
Most of us hide behind egocentric biases that generate the illusion that we are special. These self-serving protective shields allow us to believe that each of us is above average on any test of self-integrity.
Too often we look to the stars through the thick lens of personal invulnerability when we should also look down to the slippery slope beneath our feet.
Too often we look to the stars through the thick lens of personal invulnerability when we should also look down to the slippery slope beneath our feet.
People and situations are usually in a state of dynamic interaction. Although you probably think of yourself as having a consistent personality across time and space, that is likely not to be true.
People and situations are usually in a state of dynamic interaction. Although you probably think of yourself as having a consistent personality across time and space, that is likely not to be true.
It is when power is wedded to chronic fear that it becomes formidable.
It is when power is wedded to chronic fear that it becomes formidable.
The French journalist Jean Hatzfeld interviewed ten of the Hutu militia members now in prison for having macheted to death thousands of Tutsi civilians.14 The testimonies of these ordinary men—mostly farmers, active churchgoers, and a former teacher—are chilling in their matter-of-fact, remorseless depiction of unimaginable cruelty.
The French journalist Jean Hatzfeld interviewed ten of the Hutu militia members now in prison for having macheted to death thousands of Tutsi civilians.14 The testimonies of these ordinary men—mostly farmers, active churchgoers, and a former teacher—are chilling in their matter-of-fact, remorseless depiction of unimaginable cruelty.
“Before, I knew that a man could kill another man, because it happens all the time. Now I know that even the person with whom you’ve shared food, or with whom you’ve slept, even he can kill you with no trouble. The closest neighbor can kill you with his teeth: that is what I have learned since the genocide, and my
“Before, I knew that a man could kill another man, because it happens all the time. Now I know that even the person with whom you’ve shared food, or with whom you’ve slept, even he can kill you with no trouble. The closest neighbor can kill you with his teeth: that is what I have learned since the genocide, and my
eyes no longer gaze the same on the face of the world.”
eyes no longer gaze the same on the face of the world.”
Cupiditas, in English, is cupidity, which means avarice, greed, the strong desire for wealth or power over another. What cupiditas means is the desire to turn into oneself or take into oneself everything that is “other” than self. For instance, lust and rape are forms of cupiditas, because they entail using another person as a thing to gratify one’s own desire; murder for profit is also cupiditas.
Cupiditas, in English, is cupidity, which means avarice, greed, the strong desire for wealth or power over another. What cupiditas means is the desire to turn into oneself or take into oneself everything that is “other” than self. For instance, lust and rape are forms of cupiditas, because they entail using another person as a thing to gratify one’s own desire; murder for profit is also cupiditas.
showing that research participants who were “deindividuated” more readily inflicted pain on others than did those who felt more individuated.
showing that research participants who were “deindividuated” more readily inflicted pain on others than did those who felt more individuated.
Internalized
Internalized
anonymity needs no darkness for its expression.
anonymity needs no darkness for its expression.
believe such prosocial behavior comes from the assumption of reciprocal altruism, others would do the same to protect their property or person.
believe such prosocial behavior comes from the assumption of reciprocal altruism, others would do the same to protect their property or person.
“Broken Windows Theory” of crime, which posits public disorder as a situational stimulus to crime, along with the presence of criminals.
“Broken Windows Theory” of crime, which posits public disorder as a situational stimulus to crime, along with the presence of criminals.
Any setting that cloaks people in anonymity reduces their sense of personal accountability and civic responsibility for their actions.
Any setting that cloaks people in anonymity reduces their sense of personal accountability and civic responsibility for their actions.
Broken Windows advocates argue that alleviating physical disorder—removing abandoned cars from the streets, wiping out graffiti, and fixing broken windows—can reduce crime and disarray in city streets.
Broken Windows advocates argue that alleviating physical disorder—removing abandoned cars from the streets, wiping out graffiti, and fixing broken windows—can reduce crime and disarray in city streets.
“The rationale is this: our research will attempt to differentiate between what people bring into a prison situation from what the situation brings out in the people who are there.
“The rationale is this: our research will attempt to differentiate between what people bring into a prison situation from what the situation brings out in the people who are there.
donning the same anonymity-inducing goggles as part of our attempt to create a sense of deindividuation. Art, life, and research were beginning to merge.
donning the same anonymity-inducing goggles as part of our attempt to create a sense of deindividuation. Art, life, and research were beginning to merge.
The warden takes him off the Yard into his office and chastises him. “The guards have to know that every guard has to be what we call a ‘tough guard.’ The success of this experiment rides on the behavior of the guards to make it seem as realistic as possible.”
He threatens to do anything necessary to get out, even to slit his wrists! “I’ll do anything to get out! I’ll wreck your cameras, and I’ll hurt the guards!”
“I couldn’t decide whether the prison experience had really freaked me out, or whether I had induced those reactions [purposefully].”
have set the stage for them to believe that what they are seeing in this lovely place is standard, and to distrust what they might hear from their irresponsible, selfish kids and buddies, who are likely to complain.
We had also experienced “groupthink.” Once I, as leader, believed the rumor to be valid, everyone else accepted it as true. No one played devil’s advocate, a figure that every group needs to avoid foolish or even disastrous decisions like this.
It pleased my sadistic senses to cause bitterness between us.” That is a rather remarkable statement, one that I am sure he would never have made four days earlier.
8612,
Not one prisoner later told us that he had even considered that he could quit the experiment because virtually all of them had stopped thinking of their experience as just an experiment.
