The real Dr. Phil explores psychology of evil, heroism
Catherin Colaw
Last night, MCC kicked off its 15th year of the evening lecture series in psychology with Dr. Philip Zimbardo, the face of contemporary American psychology for over 40 years. Many students have come to recognize his name as faculty just adopted his text books, Pyschology: Core Concepts, to be used in introduction to psychology courses.
The lecture series was sponsored by Psi Beta, the national honor society for students of psychology.
Dr. Zimbardo spoke in the Navajo room which overflowed with approximately 1,000 students, faculty, staff and community members.
The lecture, entitled “The Journey from the Psychology of Evil to Heroism” was divided into three parts: the psychology of evil, the psychology of time, and the psychology of heroism.
Zimbardo examined how easy it is for ordinary people to be seduced into engaging in evil acts, discussed time biases and the idea of why we live in the past, present or future.
Rather than biases Zimbardo said, “We need a balance, a blend with the best of the past, the best of the present, and the best of the future.”
He went on to encourage the audience that overcoming the limits of time can “unleash your inner power to become an ordinary hero.”
Before the presentation, Dr. Zimbardo spent time talking with students over lunch.
One of the students, Andrew Gosse, said prior to the lunch he “idealized him by reputation.”
After the lunch, has was “genuinely convinced” that none of his success was contrived.
Gosse went on to say, “I think it’s remarkable that a man of his stature who is literally a pillar of science would take time not only to speak to a community college, but to invite students to come to him, to ask questions, and to pick his brain about both past and future research.”
Cassandra Hauber, another MCC student present at the lecture, became familiar with Zimbardo’s work when she took a dual enrollment course at her local high school where the students watched all of his videos.
Hauber said she was enthusiastic about Zimbardo’s lecture because he brings “basic things that are part of everyday life” to his audience.
After the lecture, her opinion of Zimbardo remained high as she “really enjoyed hearing him in person and seeing where he comes from on different issues concerning good versus evil.
