GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY EXTRA CREDIT

GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY EXTRA CREDIT

GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY EXTRA CREDIT

GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY

EXTRA CREDIT

The Psychology of Evil

For Extra Credit- Watch the TED Talk with Philip Zimbaro. This is a graphic and contains upsetting crimes against humanity.

This is the link

https://www.ted.com/talks/philip_zimbardo_on_the_psychology_of_evil

At end of the video, Zimbardo discusses the circumstances that he think believes creates the atmosphere for evil behavior. He also discusses what can be done as an alternative. For extra credit make a list of both suggestion for why it happens and how to create heroes instead. Also, give your own reflection of whether you agree with his theories.

Your work should include both the list and a page long response

Assignment 1: Paper on “The Banality of Evil” and the Person-Situation Debate

You are expected to use both personality psychology and social psychology to describe how people can be held accountable for their own acts or not in this essay assignment. The person-situation discussion is covered in Chapter 4 of our textbook. This discussion is founded on a variety of issues, some of which are scientific and some of which are moral. GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY EXTRA CREDIT

Social psychologists contend that personality does not adequately explain and predict people’s behaviors, as you are aware from the readings. Instead, your behavior is better explained and predicted by the particular circumstances you are in. According to the personality approach, personality can both explain and predict behavior. How we determine whether or not someone is responsible for their conduct is affected by this argument. Who is correct, and who said what?

(1) You will start by thoroughly rereading Chapter 4 to refresh your recollection. To finish this essay, you don’t need to read any additional research, and you shouldn’t quote from any other sources save the textbook and the article (below).

(2) After that, read the following succinct review of “The Banality of Evil,” a book by Philip Zimbardo that explores the psychology of evil:

The Banality of Evil.pdf

Textbook: The Personality Puzzle by David C. Funder, Eight Edition

Since the textbook was written by a leading personality psychologist, it’s only fair that we read something on this issue by a famous social psychologist as well.

(3) In your own words, state the main argument made by the situationist perspective from the textbook. Be sure to discuss the specific correlation coefficient claims made by this perspective. GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY EXTRA CREDIT

(4) In your own words, state the main counter-arguments made by Funder in the personality perspective. Be sure to discuss Funder’s claims about which correlations should be studied for personality. Also, explain in specific detail Funder’s claims about the size of the correlations, referring to the BESD.

(5) Now that you have stated the arguments for both sides, reflect on the issues raised in the “Banality of Evil” article. Specifically, discuss Zimbardo’s argument from the article. What is he saying about “evil”? Do you agree? Can people be evil, or only situations? What does that mean?

Should the soldiers at Abu Ghraib be punished, or should their leaders be punished, or both, or none? I do not expect everyone in the class will have the same answers, but I do expect everyone in the class to use the arguments from both the situationist and personality perspectives in their answers. GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY EXTRA CREDIT