Professor Philip Zimbardo, famous for the Stanford Prison Experiment, is speaking in London on Tuesday 17th April where he’ll be giving a talk entitled ‘The Lucifer Effect: How Good People Turn Evil’.
The title of the talk is also the name of his new book that explores how people can be influenced to commit extreme acts that would otherwise seem out of character but seem sanctioned, or even encouraged, by the system they find themselves in.
He makes particular reference to the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal, which he has highlighted as an example of the psychology of institutional abuse in action.
The talk is being organised by the London branch of the British Psychological Society, and, unfortunately, only BPS members are allowed to apply for tickets, although they can buy them for non-members:
Tickets cost £5 for BPS members and £10 for non-members (in advance), and may be obtained electronically by using the booking form or by telephoning 01332 227774. Tickets for non-members may only be purchased by members, who may buy up to 5 tickets in total.
If you’re not able to catch him in London, there’s a webpage that lists his upcoming interviews and talks.
UPDATE: Today’s New York Times has a video interview with Zimbardo on this topic. Thanks Dennis!
Link to details and booking for talk.
Link to website for The Lucifer Effect.
Mind Hacks 
I’d really like to go to this but I’m not a member of the BPS. Anybody reading who is and willing to buy a couple of tickets on my behalf?
I’m reachable at euan dot adie at gmail dot com.
He’s been getting a lot of attention with this book. It is on my list of books to be read this summer before the APA convention in San Francisco this August.
There is an 8 minute interview with him up on the front page of the New York Times today. It is worth seeing.
Not having read the book, but having seen a few reviews and a couple of interviews, it seems he is looking at the horrors of Abu Grab prison in the context of his prison experiment at Stanford in ’71. And it sounds like he is coming down heavily on the side of environmental influences on behavior.
(Of course, if you or I tried to run such an experiment today we’d be hauled before every review board and ethics panel around. Oh, well.)