THE LUCIFER EFFECT: WHY CAN A GOOD PERSON BECOME A BAD ONE?

Have you ever witnessed someone who was once very good but then became incredibly wicked, even cruel?

Have you ever seen yourself as a very good person, but in certain circumstances, due to the "forces of life," you unintentionally committed actions that weren't entirely good?

Have you ever heard stories about tyrannical rulers or Nazi dictators in history who committed a series of atrocities but always believed they were doing something righteous?

If the answer is yes to all of the above questions and you want to find an explanation for these phenomena, then the Lucifer effect may be an extremely useful psychological perspective to help you. The Lucifer Effect not only helps you understand why someone who was very good in the past can become evil in the future, but it also gives you a deeper psychological perspective on the assertion that anyone can be evil. And finally, it offers solutions to the problem so that each person can become a "hero" instead of a "devil."

According to biblical legend, Lucifer was originally an angel whom God loved dearly. Lucifer means light (light-bringing), also known as the morning star. Lucifer possessed supreme power. However, Lucifer later betrayed his faith, believing that he was the one humanity should obey and worship. He then summoned rebellious angels and instigated a war in Heaven. As a result, Lucifer and the rebellious angels were defeated, expelled from Heaven, cast into Hell, and became the devil Satan. The image of Lucifer, often referred to as the transformation from an angel to a demon, symbolizes a person's change from good to evil.

The Lucifer Effect highlights the negative aspects, the bad sides, that humans can become. The book *The Lucifer Effect*, written by Philip Zimbardo – former president of the American Psychological Association and a Stanford University professor – is based on over 30 years of research into immoral actions and heroism, and psychological transformations. Zimbardo explains the factors that turn an ordinary or good person into an evil one (Understanding How Good People Turn Evil), a phenomenon known as the Lucifer Effect.

ANYONE CAN DO BAD THINGS

Have you ever heard a story about someone seeing a very valuable item when they were the only one there? In a situation where no one else was watching except themselves, their greed kicked in, and they committed "petty theft," something they would never have done before. This might be a very familiar example to you and many others. This example leads us to a rather unpleasant conclusion: that anyone can do bad things. This conclusion might sound extreme because many people might say they were born good or that they are very upright and would never do bad things. But the truth is, that's not the case. For many people, the reason they don't do something bad is because they aren't in a situation that allows them to do it. They will do something bad if they are in a situation that allows them to do it.

More interestingly, the Lucifer effect explains that people who do bad things aren't inherently cruel or evil. Psychologists and geneticists have studied and confirmed that innate traits are based on factors such as genetic attributes, personality, and pathology. Conversely, a person who commits a bad act may be perfectly normal in terms of physical, psychological, and mental state. The reason a person might commit a bad act is because the circumstances they are placed in make it possible for them to do so. When a person is placed in a different situation, their psychology can change, even completely transform. This can be described by the saying:

“If you want to change a person, you have got to change the situation. If you want to change the situation, you have got to know where the power is, in the system.”

This means that if you want to change a person, you must place that person in a situation within a system where that person is empowered to perform a certain action.

THE STANFORD PRISON EXPERIMENT

A famous experiment that illustrates the above conclusion is the Stanford Prison Experiment, conducted in August 1971. The author conducted an experiment in which he placed young male students in a simulated prison at Stanford, randomly dividing them into two groups: guards and prisoners. To make everything as realistic as possible, 28 students were selected who were white, middle-class, mentally and physically normal, and had no prior criminal record. It could be asserted that this group of students had no history of behavioral instability. Furthermore, the experiment required these male students to perform a series of personality tests to ensure they did not exhibit any significant personality deviations.

After the students were divided into two groups, the "guards" (those playing the role of guards) were equipped with wooden batons, uniforms, and reflective sunglasses. Upon arriving at the prison, the "prisoners" (those playing the role of prisoners) were arrested by real police. They were stripped naked, dewormed, and assigned numbers instead of real names. Each prisoner was placed in their own small cell. Before long, the experiment spiraled out of control when the "guards" began punishing the "prisoners." Some "prisoners" refused to follow the "guards'" instructions, whereupon the "guards" retaliated by attacking them with fire extinguishers, forcing them to urinate and defecate into a bin in their cell and then not allowing it to be emptied. The "guards" stripped the "prisoners" of their clothes and mattresses, forcing them to sleep on the cold floor. A hunger-struck "prisoner" was confined to a small, dark room and frequently subjected to verbal abuse.

As time passed, the "guards" became more violent and cruel than expected. After only six days, the study's authors had to abandon the experiment. The students playing the "prisoners" were mentally traumatized, and under normal circumstances, no one would believe that students playing the "guards" could become so brutal and abusive.

Here, the "guards" were placed in a situation and given the power to dare to carry out acts of punishment against prisoners within the prison system. Obviously, under normal circumstances, an ordinary student like this group would certainly not dare to commit such violent acts. However, in a special circumstance, with power in their hands, within a system that allowed such acts, this group of students dared to do so.

What happened at Stanford University with that experiment seemed like a clear foreshadowing of what would happen years later in Abu Ghraib prison. Dr. Zimbardo wasn't trying to exonerate or justify the actions of the accused soldiers.

He certainly wasn't making them victims. Instead, he wanted to offer a scientific explanation of how certain circumstances can completely alter our behavior.

These are the psychological processes Zimbardo identified that constitute the Lucifer Effect:

- Conformity to a group. Solomon Asch hypothesized that certain social pressures sometimes cause us to perform behaviors that may go against our values. For what purpose? To gain approval.

- Submission to authority, by Stanley Milgram. This phenomenon is common, for example, in groups with military or police hierarchies. Here, a large proportion of its members are capable of committing violent acts if justified or ordered by those of higher rank.

- A loss of Albert Bandura's moral connection. People have their own moral code and value system. However, sometimes they engage in "pirate acts" in their minds even when it completely contradicts their principles. It can even reach the point where they consider something morally unacceptable to be right.

- Environmental factors. Dr. Zimbardo learned that these soldiers worked 12-hour shifts, 7 days a week — more than 40 days without rest. In fact, they slept in their cells. Furthermore, the facilities were in a dilapidated state, with mold, bloodstains, and corpses on the walls. They also endured up to 20 mortar attacks per week.

WHEN GOOD PEOPLE DARE TO DO BAD THINGS

Now you understand why a normally very good person might dare to do very bad things that they wouldn't normally dare to do. To generalize, you can summarize it as follows: (Of course, this is just a formula summarizing the keywords for you to easily remember; there is no such formula.)

Lucifer Effect = Situation + Power + System

Let's look at a few examples:

A normal person might be very compliant with traffic laws, for example, always stopping before the line when the light is red and only driving when the light turns green. But what happens if, in a situation, for example, late at night, that person is driving alone at an intersection, and there are no traffic police around? In that case, they can give themselves the power to freely run red lights without feeling guilty. Using the same example, if a driver runs a red light and is accidentally pulled over by a traffic police officer, the officer can "handle it quickly, without issuing a ticket" because there is no supervision and they can exercise their authority. Conversely, this wouldn't happen if the traffic system had cameras at intersections and implemented a "cold penalty" policy. This means that when someone runs a red light, the traffic camera will signal, and the person will be automatically penalized. Within a certain period, they will have to pay the fine to avoid having their driver's license revoked.

This is the method used in many developed countries. For example, in Singapore, when drivers pass through a toll booth, as soon as their wheels cross the line into the new lane, the system automatically deducts the money from their bank account instead of requiring them to stop and pay in cash. Traffic police are also rarely present on the roads because they only appear when a serious incident occurs; otherwise, many driver violations are automatically penalized. Thus, the Singaporean government has built a system that places drivers in a situation where they have no right to freely violate the law, and also places the police in a situation where they have no right to "quickly handle without issuing a ticket."

Within families, why are some men extremely abusive towards their wives? They may beat, yell at, and shout at their wives. Domestic violence is a serious problem in many families. There are men who verbally abuse their wives mercilessly, even banging on tables and chairs, smashing furniture, and mistreating their wives and even their children. Is it because they were already violent during their courtship before marriage? The answer is definitely no. The reason is that, once again, they are placed in a situation where they are given the power to act in this way. Women, especially many from previous generations, tend to be submissive and resigned. Added to this are societal prejudices like "a husband's shame is a wife's shame," meaning that when mistreated by their husbands, they dare not complain, dare not speak up, and silently endure it, partly because they feel ashamed to share such things. It is for this reason that these men have the "right" to continue the violence. However, things would be different if, for example, a woman dared to speak up and frankly express her opinion about an abusive husband, or if society – the neighbors – also spoke out. But in life, the inherent human mentality is "family matters should be kept private," so only those involved can make decisions to resolve the issue.

In education, why do such horrific cases of school violence occur? Some students are willing to beat up their classmates, verbally abuse each other, slap each other, pull hair, tear clothes, and commit countless acts that many find unbelievable. Furthermore, there are even cases of school violence where teachers physically assault their students. Those in the teaching profession should understand the humanistic and ethical aspects of nurturing young minds, yet why do such disappointing cases still occur, with news reports and online coverage everywhere? Once again, the Lucifer effect can be explained: when people are given the power to do bad things, they are likely to do them. This is why, since the advent of social media, where injustices spread rapidly, many such incidents are exposed overnight. In the past, many students may have remained silent out of fear, living in a state of violence without daring to utter a word, allowing those responsible to become even more emboldened. Conversely, when people do not allow bad actions to appear, thanks to mass media and the courage of those who speak out, those who dare to do evil will no longer dare to do evil.

DON'T BELIEVE WHAT SOMEONE SAYS, LOOK AT WHAT THEY DO

In business, dishonest behavior is not uncommon. There are people in accounting positions, who hold the books, invoices, and documents, and are the ones who control the "cash flow" of an entire business. Why do some people become dishonest, for example, stealing money from the company? If we look at it from the perspective of the Lucifer effect, it is clear that they are not born with a thieving nature. Simply put, they are placed in a situation where they have the power to commit fraud without being detected, within a system where rules and policies can be lax. Seeing the benefit to themselves, which in this case is money, and having the opportunity to cheat, they can become extremely dishonest. Do they appear normal on the surface? Certainly, they might appear very normal, even kind. Therefore, when considering the Lucifer effect, don't believe what a person says, but look at what they do. A business can be ruined if its financial system is not robust. A business's financial system is like the granary of an army going into battle. That army cannot fight if the granary is destroyed. And a granary keeper could be a very bad person if they are allowed to facilitate sabotage or theft.

In feudal times, stories of cruel kings are a prime example. They may not have been born evil, but because they were placed within a system where their power was absolute, and to ensure the preservation of that power, they could dare to commit any act, however cruel or barbaric, against others. A person who ascended the throne might be willing to exterminate and kill all the relatives and family members of their opponents. There were circumstances where people were willing to inflict brutal punishments on others, such as the "extermination of nine generations of the family." These people did not feel that these were barbaric acts because they were placed within a system where they had the power to do so. We are not lacking in stories of rulers committing countless crimes throughout human history.

DON'T LET CIRCUMSTANCES CHANGE WHO YOU ARE

The Lucifer Effect explains many behaviors belonging to the dark side of society. For example, a person can fall into addiction, alcoholism, gambling, fraud, adultery, cruel treatment of others, corruption, etc., when they are in a situation that allows them to do so. However, looking at it from another perspective, this is not a negative effect. This effect helps us accept the truth that anyone can become someone who dares to do bad things. And we are more likely to do bad things than to maintain good things.

Therefore, the Lucifer Effect can be considered a principle, a warning for each person in life, to try to maintain the role of an angel, instead of becoming a devil. Doing that is certainly not easy. Because life is full of difficulties, temptations, and circumstances that push people to do bad things, don't let circumstances change who you are. When we understand a part of the Lucifer effect, we can adjust our circumstances, create boundaries and principles so that we don't allow ourselves to commit bad acts.

Each person can create their own boundaries, limits that they would never allow themselves to cross. Then, even if they are in a situation where they could do bad, they might still choose to act like a good person.

That's the author's observation; from my perspective, in everyday life, anyone in public or private sector can abuse their authority to intimidate and do whatever they want without fear of punishment—it's like Lucifer's domain. Whether we like it or not, we all carry the "seed of evil" within us, a seed that only germinates when watered by cover-ups and abuse of power. This isn't limited to prisons, as the author experimented, but permeates all professions and fields, both in government and private institutions.