Psychologist Philip Zimbardo talked about his book, The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil, published by Random House. He explained how particular situations and group dynamics can lead normal, moral people to behave in immoral ways. He showed a PowerPoint presentation and cited the treatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib as an example. He also talked about the findings of his Stanford Prison Experiment, in which a group of student volunteers were arbitrarily divided into “guards” and “inmates” and then placed in a simulated prison environment. He was joined by author Jack Miles for further discussion. After his presentation he responded to audience members' questions.


In 2004, Dr. Zimbardo was an expert witness in the court-martial hearings of one of the U.S. military reservists charged with criminal behavior at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Jack Miles wrote God: A Biography.

A portion of this program contains language and graphic images that some may find offensive.