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RE: The Lucifer Effect: Are We Evil?
Excellent post. I find it interesting that in Western psychology, the ego is not given much importance, while in most Eastern spiritual/philosophical systems, the transcendence/control of the egoic complex is of paramount importance.
"At the same time, the two experiments evidence the presence of a foreseeable pattern in human behaviour, represented by a wish for conformity with the mass."
In my opinion, this pattern is part of the egoic construct. Because the ego sees itself separate from everyone and everything, it seeks agreement from other egos in order to validate its own worth and importance.
Being a part of a sports team, political party or movement is how egos group together to survive and "stay safe."
Thank you @techwizardry for your clever and to the point comment. Yes there are macroscopic differences between the fundaments of our philosophical thinking compared to the oriental one (Socrates vs. Confucius / linear vs. circular). Not to mention the religious aspects.
You comment pushed me to rephrase my final toughts (see above) and explain them a little better. My point is that there's a line beyond which the normal and positive social collaboration becomes something pathological and out of control. In other words, those "guards" were average students, clever and with culture, psychologically weak subjects were purposedly excluded from the experiment...If it's so, what made them become capable, in the short time of a week, of forgetting the fiction and torturing other students like them? This is something worth to be deepened I guess. Btw, did you know about these experiments?
I was very much familiar with the Stanford Prison Experiment, but I hadn't heard of The Third Wave.
"My point is that there's a line beyond which the normal and positive social collaboration becomes something pathological and out of control."
How would you define this line then?
Ok thanks for telling me, I'm trying to understand if I should write about other social experiments mainly about conformity..yes I realised that the Third Wave experiment is usually not so known (by the way, the movie "Die Welle" is very interesting, I think you could like it @techwizardry). This is a line that you never cross perpendicularly but in a diagonal way, If I have to make a similitude. This way, it's not easy at all to realise the moment in which you crossed it. I feel I cannot give answers, but I strive to keep my mind free from superstructures and conditionings..If we're here we may be on the right track (as long as steemit will give voice and strenght to free people)..too idealistic?
Thanks, I'll check out that film soon. Keeping the mind free of conditioning and rigidity is a very healthy practice.
Let's see what happens when Steemit get big. We might start seeing the same behavioral patterns here as well.
Another good point.. steemit could become elitarian and discriminative. The economical aspect joint with the social one is quite powerful.
Steemit is a fascinating experiment and I'm looking forward to finding out how the whole platform and its users evolve over time. We might even see Steemit being mentioned in psychology books someday. Hopefully we won't turn out like the Stanford Prison Experiment.