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MENTAL MODEL · M12352

Lucifer Effect

Lucifer Effect
BehaviorHigh supportSocial Psychology
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Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-07-30

CORE DEFINITION

Zimbardo points out that adverse situations and institutional pressures can lead ordinary people to commit cruel acts, revealing the powerful shaping force of environment on good and evil.

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

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The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil is a 2007 book by American psychologist Philip Zimbardo. In the book, Zimbardo details for the first time the Stanford prison experiment and provides a social psychological explanation for the abuse of prisoners by American military police at Abu Ghraib prison. The so-called Lucifer Effect refers to the phenomenon where ordinary people or social groups, under certain circumstances, suddenly degenerate in personality, thinking, and behavior, releasing the evil side of human nature, collectively engaging in immoral behavior, or even crimes against humanity. Why do so many ordinary people undergo such abnormal psychological transformations and commit evil acts? Professor Zimbardo suggests the following causes: Blind obedience to authority and discipline gradually leads people to abandon...

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Zimbardo proposed that good people placed in specific situations may also commit evil; environmental forces often outweigh personal character. The mechanisms include deindividuation, role internalization, diffusion of responsibility, and gradually escalating obedience.

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Source support: Explicit

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    zh.wikipedia.orghttps://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%B7%AF%E8%A5%BF%E6%B3%95%E6%95%88%E5%BA%94ZH · Explicit
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