
The Lucifer Effect
Understanding How Good People Turn Evil
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Narrated by:
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Kevin Foley
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By:
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Philip Zimbardo
About this listen
What makes good people do bad things? How can moral people be seduced to act immorally? Where is the line separating good from evil, and who is in danger of crossing it? Renowned social psychologist Philip Zimbardo has the answers, and in The Lucifer Effect
Drawing on examples from history as well as his own trailblazing research, Zimbardo details how situational forces and group dynamics can work in concert to make monsters out of decent men and women. Zimbardo is perhaps best known as the creator of the Stanford Prison Experiment. Here, for the first time and in detail, he tells the full story of this landmark study, in which a group of college-student volunteers was randomly divided into guards and inmates and then placed in a mock prison environment. Within a week, the study was abandoned, as ordinary college students were transformed into either brutal, sadistic guards or emotionally broken prisoners. By illuminating the psychological causes behind such disturbing metamorphoses, Zimbardo enables us to better understand a variety of harrowing phenomena, from corporate malfeasance to organized genocide to how once upstanding American soldiers came to abuse and torture Iraqi detainees in Abu Ghraib. He replaces the long-held notion of the "bad apple" with the "bad barrel" - the idea that the social setting and the system contaminate the individual, rather than the other way around.
This is a book that dares to hold a mirror up to mankind, showing us that we might not be who we think we are. While forcing us to reexamine what we are capable of doing when caught up in the crucible of behavioral dynamics, though, Zimbardo also offers hope. We are capable of resisting evil, he argues, and can even teach ourselves to act heroically.
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Critic reviews
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- Length: 8 hrs and 58 mins
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Overall
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Performance
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-
-
What causes evil?
- By Cynthia on 03-10-13
-
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- By: Mary Aiken PhD
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In this engrossing journey into the lives of psychopaths and their infamously crafty behaviors, the renowned psychologist Kevin Dutton reveals that there is a scale of "madness" along which we all sit. Incorporating the latest advances in brain scanning and neuroscience, Dutton demonstrates that the brilliant neurosurgeon who lacks empathy has more in common with a Ted Bundy who kills for pleasure than we may wish to admit, and that a mugger in a dimly lit parking lot may well, in fact, have the same nerveless poise as a titan of industry.
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The Monk or Serial Killer Next Door
- By Lynn on 12-21-12
By: Kevin Dutton
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The Silent Language of Leaders
- How Body Language Can Help--or Hurt--How You Lead
- By: Carol Kinsey Goman
- Narrated by: Vanessa Hart
- Length: 6 hrs
- Unabridged
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Aspiring and seasoned leaders have been trained to manage their leadership communication in many important ways. And yet, all their efforts to communicate effectively can be derailed by even the smallest nonverbal gestures such as the way they sit in a business meeting, or stand at the podium at a speaking engagement.
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Most Likely to Succeed
- Preparing Our Kids for the New Innovation Era
- By: Tony Wagner, Ted Dintersmith
- Narrated by: Holter Graham
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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From two leading experts in education and entrepreneurship, an urgent call for the radical reimagining of American education so that we better equip students for the realities of the 21st-century economy.
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the most important book you may read in your life!
- By MichaelS on 03-10-16
By: Tony Wagner, and others
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The Little Book of Psychology
- An Introduction to the Key Psychologists and Theories You Need to Know
- By: Emily Ralls, Caroline Riggs
- Narrated by: Jennifer M. Dixon
- Length: 2 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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If you want to know your Freud from your Jung and your Milgram from your Maslow, strap in for this whirlwind tour of the highlights of psychology.
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Awesome
- By Robert C. Hurst on 03-14-25
By: Emily Ralls, and others
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The Psychopath Whisperer
- The Science of Those Without Conscience
- By: Kent A. Kiehl
- Narrated by: Kevin Pariseau
- Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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We know of psychopaths from chilling headlines and stories in the news and movies - from Ted Bundy and John Wayne Gacy to Hannibal Lecter and Dexter Morgan. As Dr. Kent Kiehl shows, psychopaths can be identified by a checklist of symptoms that includes pathological lying; lack of empathy, guilt, and remorse; grandiose sense of self-worth; manipulation; and failure to accept one’s actions. But why do psychopaths behave the way they do? Is it the result of their environment - how they were raised - or is there a genetic component to their lack of conscience?
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An autobiography with splatter of neuropsychology.
- By DORIS H. on 08-16-14
By: Kent A. Kiehl
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The Great Money Reset
- Change Your Work, Change Your Wealth, Change Your Life
- By: Jill Schlesinger
- Narrated by: Jill Schlesinger
- Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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The COVID-19 pandemic forced us to rethink everything. Now, when it comes to envisioning a post-pandemic future, financial expert Jill Schlesinger hears one question over and over: IS THIS REALLY HOW I WANT TO LIVE? The Great Money Reset is your guide to getting real and building your best life. A bible for navigating our present era of seismic change, Schlesinger’s book shows us how to take advantage of this situation to pull off personal transitions.
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This Book is for the Wealthy.
- By Lynette on 12-24-24
By: Jill Schlesinger
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How to Save the World for Free
- By: Natalie Fee
- Narrated by: Shiromi Arserio
- Length: 4 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Are you worried about the effects of climate change on our environment? Want to help but don't know where to start? Environmental activist Natalie Fee's new handbook to green living will help you to make small lifestyle changes that will make a big difference to our planet.
By: Natalie Fee
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The Velveteen Principles
- A Guide to Being Real
- By: Toni Raiten-D'Antonio
- Narrated by: Fran Tunno
- Length: 3 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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The Velveteen Principles was a surprise best seller and is now an audiobook release to celebrate the land of real values, real emotions, and real self with the help of a the beloved Velveteen Rabbit.
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great story
- By margarita on 09-17-19
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Into the Impossible
- Think Like a Nobel Prize Winner: Lessons from Laureates to Stoke Curiosity, Spur Collaboration, and Ignite Imagination in Your Life and Career
- By: Brian Keating
- Narrated by: Brian Keating, Steven Jay Cohen
- Length: 3 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Within Into the Impossible: Think Like a Nobel Prize Winner, the wisdom of nine Nobel Laureates has been distilled and compressed into concentrated, actionable data you can use. While each mind is unique, they are united in their emphasis that no one wins alone - and that science, and success itself, belongs to us all.
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A collectors guide to the Nobel Prize
- By Amazon Customer on 02-09-23
By: Brian Keating
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The Power of Kindness 10th Anniversary Edition
- The Unexpected Benefits of Leading a Compassionate Life
- By: Piero Ferrucci
- Narrated by: Mitch Horowitz
- Length: 7 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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When The Power of Kindness first appeared in 2006 it thrilled and challenged listeners with one audacious promise: Your acts of generosity and decency are the secret to a fuller, more satisfying life. Kindness is not some squishy virtue but the very key to your own happiness. With nearly 125,000 copies sold, we're celebrating the book's tenth anniversary with this new edition, featuring a complete new chapter by Piero Ferrucci on the theme of "Harmlessness", which joins his other chapters on virtues such as "Honesty", "Warmth", and "Loyalty".
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Okay, but struggled to push through.
- By Annica Smith on 01-01-25
By: Piero Ferrucci
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Survival Theory II
- The Psychology of Human Desperation, Starvation, and Living Without Rule of Law
- By: Jonathan Hollerman
- Narrated by: Eric Cunningham
- Length: 9 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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This book is not a 10-step plan to survive the zombie apocalypse, or a survival guide for natural disasters. It is a discussion on human psychology and physiology, and the threats posed by starvation psychosis during a prolonged, total collapse scenario.
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YOU SHOULD CONSULT AN EXPERT (LIKE ME)
- By Day on 09-21-24
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How Your Story Sets You Free
- By: Heather Box, Julian Mocine-McQueen
- Narrated by: Heather Box, Julian Mocine-McQueen
- Length: 1 hr and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Everyone has a story to tell. Sharing that story can change you, your community, or even the world. But how do you start? This inspirational guide invites listeners to unlock their truth and share it, whether in a TED talk, a blog post, or a conversation with their loved ones. Storytelling coaches Heather Box and Julian Mocine-McQueen reveal how to embrace the power of personal storytelling in a series of easy steps. Their practical and motivating advice fills this charming audiobook. It's a meaningful gift and a powerful reminder that stories matter.
By: Heather Box, and others
What listeners say about The Lucifer Effect
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- Andrew Shepherd
- 06-08-21
Paradigm shifted!
Incredibly decisive proof that sadistic torture, murder, and holocausts are the result of social conditioning—not bad apples but bad systems. While some people are born psychopaths, most of us can become so with the right social script to play our role like good soldiers. From the Stanford prison experiment which he ran, to the atrocities at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, to the many other sadistic murders and genocides in modern history, Phillip Zimbardo shows us how humans shift from good guy to bad guy quite automatically when prompted and not stopped by authorities.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Marcus
- 05-28-16
Everyone should listen to this at some point!
This book explains how good people end up doing bad things. It showes with great depth what happend at famous Standford prison experiment and then moves past this and broadens the picture!
I think everyone should listen to this at somepoint. It will help to make you into a bettet person that understands yourself better!
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- Wally s
- 01-17-12
His apologetic for self and attack of the Bush Adm
I regret that this may be a review that seems to wander over many areas and not be very focused.
The first part of the book is a summary of the Stanford Prison Experiment. In this experiment the author admits to not having kept clear control of the people in the experiment. In fact, I would say that there were incidents that he describes where he encouraged the decadent behavior, by having the leader tell "guards" (students acting as guards) to be more guard-like.
One of my questions from this experiment is how much the preconceived ideas of the students and the professor fed in to the results. There is validity to the results, as can be seen from Andersonville and the Northern prison referenced make.
In the later half of the book he moves on to Abu Grab. I must say, if I knew that this was the real focus of this book I probably would not have bought it. I did find some of the insights helpful, however this was marred by his ignorance of the military and his desire to use this as an attack against the Bush administration.
Because it is an audible book, I cannot remember all of the inaccuracies -- but here are some that I remember:
Firstly the rendition program was created by President Clinton. It was used by Bush.
Secondly his understanding of the NCOIC and his evaluations is inaccurate. the author was highly impressed with the list of medals of this soldier. As I listened to the list, it was a "normal" list for anyone who had been enlisted for 12 years (give or take) The National Defense Service Ribbon is given simply for being part of the military during a time of war, others are regular parts of the service. That is why military people call them "candy". The NCO in question had evaluations that were not impressive. If the author would have read any of the manuals on writing NCOERs he would have been less impressed.
Thirdly, he places the lack of training on the Bush administration. I see another fault. During VietNam it was decided that all PW (prisoner of War) units would be from the reserves, as a way to keep us from being part of a war that did not have public support. The unforeseen consequences of that is a less trained...less disciplined force in those positions.
I should note that I have had some exposure to a few prisons (not major, but some exposure), having worked at the US Army Retraining Brigade, the USDB (Leavenworth), and various county jails (I am a pastor). These are places of disproportionate power, but the best of them set up systems of checks and balances. Obviously there were major problems in Abu Grab -- what I would refer to as command and control issues, as well as staffing, cleanliness, etc. I would also wonder about the wisdom of using one of the worst prisons from Sadaam.
The author's interest in using this as a forum to attack the Bush administration is easily seen from his admission that the rest of the book he would be acting as prosecutor. This was the last 1/4 of the book. Again, this is not what I bought this book for.
I wonder if he would like to turn this kind of analysis to the inhumanity of taking away the dignity of work, the slavery of the welfare system, the inhumanity of bureaucracy in government, and the results of other liberal "ideals".
Again, not the book that I thought I was getting, but I did appreciate the exposure to social psychology.
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9 people found this helpful
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- Holly Jones
- 08-18-17
One of the most important books ever written.
Dr. Z does a phenomenal job dissecting the anatomy of surprisingly simple, and every-day scenarios that set the stage for "common" people to find themselves commiting uncommon, even horrific, acts on other people. The book opens with cautionary statements, warning the reader not to judge the people involved in the case-studies as evil, or even different from you. After countless examples, with backed statistics, I'm both terrified of how predictively precarious our civilized society is, yet glad that researchers like Z devote lifetimes to articulating this precarity to others. I feel like insightful exposure to the painful truths of human crowd-instincts, may be our best preparation to identifying and resisting these scenarios as they arise. The book is pretty emotionally heavy, but Dr Z finishes on a positive topic addressing that heroism can be fostered by circumstantial settings and awareness. I feel that this work is required reading for all responsible humans.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Rduron
- 06-17-13
Get to the Point
What did you like best about The Lucifer Effect? What did you like least?
I liked the title, it pulled me in.
What was most disappointing about Philip Zimbardo’s story?
It was to clinical for me it was a long way to the point.
What aspect of Kevin Foley’s performance would you have changed?
It was OK
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- Matt McConnell
- 06-26-18
Absolutely Mind-blowing!
The Lucifer Effect is a must read.
It is an amazing look into social/peer pressure to conform, destructive changes that can come from anonymity, and how some people can act like monsters and still go home at night if it’s just a role in their head.
I have no idea how this isn’t taught in high school more.
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- Robert Butler
- 10-28-21
A mildly entertaining forever
It should have been split into two books. It dragged at the end. Fudge.
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- Amazon Customer
- 06-23-22
Useful insight, Great narration
The study and reflection on the SPE and it's application was good. The narrators performance and use of voice to distinguish characters was even better.
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- Emily
- 09-23-24
Some missing parts of tape
My main complaint isn’t really content related but about the quality of the tape. The first paragraph of each chapter is cut off. Thankfully I was listening while looking at the physical book so I was able to stop, read the cut-off paragraph and then resume the tape
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- SAMA
- 05-29-13
A look into the dark side of humanity
This book redefines the perspective of good and evil, and shows us that there is no true "good" or "evil" person, only circumstances that push us toward one or the other. This book, even if it drags on at some points, is worth listening to if you wonder about what makes people good and evil.
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11 people found this helpful