The Lucifer Effect: The Root Causes of the Occurrence of Situational Evil with Detail Analysis on the Stanford Prison Experiment

In 1994 in Rwanda, nearly one million Tutsi people were killed in just three months. It was not hostile external forces that committed the crime, but rather their former neighbors and friends, the Hutus. With these circumstances, we can’t help but ask, what is it that planted the “evil” seeds in the hearts of the Hutus, and what was it that was able to make these otherwise simple civilians mercilessly butcher’s their compatriots? Such is the central question which Zimbardo tried to answer in “The Lucifer Effect”: how exactly does a good person become evil?

Lucifer, synonymous with Satan, once the “light bearer” and God’s favorite angel, was sent to hell due to his lust for power. Named after Lucifer, the book brings us through a series of cases displaying how vulnerable people become influenced by certain situations, and how we can all become fallen angels like Lucifer: from angels to devils.