Famous psychologist visits Swartz Creek to teach people to be heroic – The Flint Journal

Phil Zimbardo.pngDr. Phil Zimbardo.

SWARTZ CREEK, MI – Philip Zimbardo, a Professor Emeritus
of Psychology at Stanford University, famous for his Stanford Prison
Experiment, will visit Swartz Creek High School to talk about "How normal
people can do evil things" for Michigan's Hero Round Table Conference Sunday,
Nov. 10.

Tickets for his lecture, which begins at 10:30 a.m. and lasts
about 90 minutes, are $12. A book signing will follow. Tickets to attend the
entire conference are $325.

In Zimbardo's 1971 prison experiment, he picked 24 male
students to assume randomly assigned roles as either a prisoner or a guard. He
built a mock prison in one of Stanford University's basements where the
prisoners were to stay for two weeks.

The experiment was canceled after six days, because participants
began taking their roles too seriously: Guards became sadistic, using
psychological tactics to force prisoners into submission. Prisoners accepted
the abuse, and even turned on the few prisoners who attempted to stop it.

Matt Langdon, creator of the conference, said Zimbardo devoted
his career to using the prison experiment to teach people how to withstand
social criticism to stand up for themselves and their morals.

"He shows us what makes regular people decide to do the
right thing in bad situations," Langdon said.

For more information on the conference or to purchase
tickets, click here.

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