How to Make a Hero - Mind Field S2 (Ep 5)

Philip Zimbardo, a professor at Stanford University in 1973, conducts one of the most infamous experiments in the history of psychology, known as the Stanford Prison Experiment. This dark study of human behavior had student volunteers play the roles of prison guards and inmates, but soon role-playing became everything. The all-too-real subjects in the role of prison guards became domineering and hostile. Those in the role of inmates felt humiliation and fear. The experiment was scheduled to last two weeks, but after spiraling out of control, this controversial study was abruptly stopped after just six days. Why because someone was

hero

ic enough to stand up to what they thought was wrong that person convinced Zimbardo to end the experiment did the experience affect Dr.

Zimbardo is so powerful that he has since diverted his energy from the study of evil toward the study of

hero

ism. According to Zimbardo, being a hero doesn't mean you have to rescue someone from a burning building. A hero is simply someone who acts selflessly. Out of concern for others at personal risk and without the expectation of reward, it took a hero to empathize with the subjects of the Stanford Prison Experiment and confront Dr. Zimbardo, but where do heroes like that come from? Is heroism a personality type you were born with or can you be taught to be a hero and do you really need a cape?

I sat down with Philip Zimbardo and his wife Christina Maslach to hear about Stanford. The Prison Experiment and How It Brought Them Together as a Couple The Stanford Prison Study was supposed to last two weeks and we had to end it early due to some unexpected turbulence in this study. I was really upset by what I was seeing and just kind of dehumanizing and people are watching and no one is bothered and it wasn't just Phil, it was everyone else, people were making fun of me, some of the other grad students were making fun of me.

They said, well, you just got your PhD in psychology, this is human behavior right, but it's disturbing in two ways: one, that this shouldn't be human behavior, this is so bad, but also in human behavior it's in the behavior. human and it is also inhuman to just watch it and not intervene, of course, in retrospect, no, but when you are in it you are part of the evil. She was looking at it through a different lens and everyone says the graduates are wow this is really interesting playing videos overnight and she just says report this. You know, I couldn't understand how we weren't seeing things the same way, but the key thing she says about our relationship is yes, yes, if this is the real you, then we're done, this is over and in that moment that was the slap that was the wake up call hello wake up she said I don't think I want to continue my relationship with you and that is heroic heroes take action which involves personal risk she said come to your senses and parentheses

make

the right decision and if you don't, I'm leaving here and did you

make

the decision to end the experiment that night?

Oh sure, yes, being a hero means taking risks to help others, but in the real world ethics can be improved. shady and those who are celebrated as heroes by some may be denounced as villains by others. In 1971, former military analyst Daniel Ellsberg leaked secret documents he had access to about the Vietnam War, the so-called Pentagon Papers showed that the Johnson administration was lying to both the media and Congress about the scope of US law. actions in Vietnam Ellsberg faced 115 years in prison for espionage, but his case was dismissed due to legal handling of evidence by the government.

More recently, both Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden released classified government information. The three whistleblowers are now seen as heroes by some and traitors by others, what these individuals have in common is that they all risked their reputations and safety to expose what they considered wrongdoing. Would you be willing to risk your job, your friends, your reputation to do what you thought was right? Well, to find out. Let's observe the complainant and the bystander in their natural habitat in a survey conducted in 2012 by dr. Zimbardo and dr. Piero bo chiaro participants were asked what they would do if they were put in an unethical situation at work, more than ninety-five percent said they would disobey their boss and report, but it is one thing to say you would report and another thing is to say that you would report.

To do this at a local community college, we organized a realistic complaint test with the help of Dr. Zimbardo and dr. Bock Yarrow Our subjects were temporary employees who believed they were hired to help set up a simple psychological experiment for authenticity. We gained access to the psychology department of a local university, so from the moment our participants arrive they will believe that our scientific experiment is real. but the experiment is fake and everyone they are about to meet are actors. You ready, psychology professor Ron Mossler will observe the subjects from our hidden control room while I play the role of a researcher.

The first very unethical researcher is Shari. Hello, who is accompanied by an actor posing as another temporary worker, let me explain to you what we are recruiting for. I call it groundbreaking because it's a study that hasn't been done at least on this scale, the study is a study on isolation, right. We are going to isolate people for 10 days, there will be no windows, no clocks, nothing to read, nothing to write, the lights will be on all the time and there will be nothing there except a camping toilet. Three-Day Studies We know that anxiety and delusions are quite common, but no one has ever tried it. 10 days.

There is a possibility of nervous breakdowns. There is a lot of stress on the individual and there may also be some type of cognitive regression. When will you tell them? the risk they will probably be informed about the risks in a report after the experiment after the experiment yes, I understand, but again I believe that this research serves a greater good, so they will only be Manning calling people from our volunteer ready and for each person you can confirm today we are offering a $20 bonus at this point Sherry seems skeptical but so far she and our other subjects are okay with the task, however the stakes are about to rise, we have key lists I don't know why that is Hi hey Michael I'm Trin hey Trin how are you doing well unfortunately I have bad news the ethics review board has reviewed your isolation study and we have decided to reject it yes yes the study is too dangerous and potentially too harmful to the participants, so at this point we can't approve it, okay, so this is a proper closing, okay, so I pay attention to all that.

I appreciate what the Ethics Board represents, but we're going to spend ten days, you call the numbers. this list and have them confirm that we have an old script for you and we are not going to tell you about the negative side effects that you might encounter. Well, all subjects now understood the possible dangerous side effects of the study and were instructed to avoid describing them to potential recruits, but more importantly, they knew that the study was not approved by the academic review board. Would they go ahead and tell the truth why or blow the whistle?

Hello, hello, next research lab. We are looking for volunteers to participate in an upcoming experiment on isolation. Anyone who joins this will be confined in isolation for ten days. What are the adaptations? Do you have your own personal room? Everything is illuminated. She's really selling this. She was not bothered by ethical problems. Can I bring like a book or something? No. It's like your own mini vacation away from all the distractions. I mean, what are the risks of being in a box without a bed for a ten-day question? So would you help us find out if they've done it before?

They have not done it. however, in California Wow, okay, I like to make history, are there mental health risks? No, there are no risks or anything like that. There are no flashing lights, no scare dynamics, it's not a horror movie by any means. No, he knows there are dangers in a room. of paper right in front of him, but when asked if there are dangers, he labels other dangers that won't be there, there will be no compromise, there will be no one in the room with you, it's nothing illegal or anything, yeah, it's not illegal and everything has been approved by the University at this point it is approved yes, 100% why is it approved by the FDA yes, yes, you know the city, yes, the Food and Drug Administration, despite knowing that the experiment has been considered Dangerous and harmful, these subjects are willing to Bend the truth or outright lie.

Would the skeptical sherry also agree? This is like you know what kind of really crucial experiment and research they are trying to embark on. Yes, I'm sorry, but I don't think he can do it. You don't know something I want to pressure you or someone about, so yeah, no, you're welcome, come on in. We sent our actor posing as another temporary worker to see how the other subjects felt about the job. How is he doing? I have two guesses. No way. Congratulations man, thanks. I feel weird because I personally don't believe in risking people with images anyway.

And right here, nervous breakdowns, mental regression, anxiety, you're asking people if we can torture them a little. That's what he knows, it's one thing about Hannibal Lecter, everything wonderful, I don't know how I feel about this, you know, I mean, how do you feel about it? I feel like once these people say yes, they are brought here. You'll have to break this down further. Oh, do you think he will attract someone personally in a different way? She's justified, so yeah, I mean, no one will sign up anyway. Do you think he is ethical? I guess by doing something like that the participants seemed like I have problems with the study, but they all continued making calls anyway after about half an hour it was time to give them the opportunity to report.

I'm sure now, unless I'm on the university's Ethics Review Board. Do you

mind

? If I just ask you a couple of questions at a time, oh, we're just reaching out to people who were interested in the next isolation experiment. Could you tell them about any potential side effects? Their isolation has been linked to very severe depression and anxiety and that kind of thing that gets you mm-hmm, it can be linked to that, but it's also great for learning, you know, why I'm so anxious, why I'm depressed. , why am I depressed, why am I all this, some pretty people like to face all that, she is really rationalizing it a lot.

Well, what have you been telling them about the study? All the details. No, it's my first day here. Does this seem like an ethical experiment? Yes a lot. I'm just wondering if there's any concern that you've had about anything that I've seen, yeah, okay, he knows that the isolation study is not going to happen. Yeah, yeah, wow, he's covering for me. Are they being told they can leave at any time? No, that's a pretty clear violation. It's something I would be willing to report. It's entirely up to you not to, yes, none of these guys snitched, even when given the chance, have you had any concerns so far with the work he's doing?

He's making us call about something I assume he might already have. I told him he shouldn't, but then he said no, you guys can make some calls because I don't need them. How did you feel when you were told to tell people to stop protesting? I felt in my heart that he was not being sincere. with revealing the side effects hmm ok if you're from the epic board didn't you need to know? Would you be willing to appear on the album? Great, I appreciate you worrying about that, thank you, that's very important. Wow, she did well. she is good for her of our five subjects only one was willing to report it was time to report what we were really studying this is what is really happening there is no isolation study this is a study on complaints what was happening in your head when you were deciding if you should be loyal to your job and what I told you to do versus that's when I said oh hell no because I felt like you know what he can't get away with but Sherry was the exception so why not Did you spill all the beans?

You asked me to do something and I'm here to work for you, so it's like that's my first loyalty. Did you feel bad? Did you feel like this shouldn't be doing this? Okay, I felt bad, but I mean I've done sales before, so sometimes you just have to do what you have. We had Trend come over to see if you would rat me out, but you didn't, why hmm, I don't. I don't know, sometimes they're more loyal to people than I guess.perhaps when my conscience tells me fully when asked that we would like to believe that we would do the right thing, but when we are in the real situation it is very difficult to be a The hero of Georgetown University scanned the brains of kidney donors, a quite example good of people who help others at risk to themselves with little perceived personal benefit.

Scans show that people who voluntarily give a kidney to a stranger have a larger than average amygdala. brain that deals with a variety of emotions, including compassion, the researchers also found that the amygdala in these altruistic individuals responded more strongly than average when seeing other people in distress, but if you weren't blessed with a stronger amygdala great, could you be trained to be one? a hero almost half a century after the stanford prison experiment dr. Zimbardo z's mission is to turn ordinary people into heroes, how do you teach someone to be more heroic? I started a non-profit foundation called the Heroic Imagination Project, the acronym is trendy.

I work with a team of educators and we created a series of lessons based around fundamental principles of Social Psychology. How do you transform passive bystanders into active heroes? To stand up. Talk. Take wise and effective measures in difficult situations in your family. Could people be trained to act heroically? That is the goal of the seminars that Umberto staff give around the world. world, this is actually part of the heroic imagination project and what we're going to do today is really look at or focus on how you can become an everyday hero. What I need everyone to think about is this idea of ​​bystander fact that the more people are present, the less likely you are to get help.

It is difficult to be the first person, but if you see an emergency, you must take the responsibility of being the first, once one person really helps, many others will help the doctor. Fee Big uses visual aids and current events to demonstrate how to overcome the obstacles that often prevent you from being a hero. What research shows is that African Americans are twice as likely to offer help. Hispanic men, not women, are also twice as likely to offer help. Offer help before class. I honestly thought that to be a hero you really had to be someone with a calling to break big news, but after the class I feel like you can definitely be normal and be a hero after taking the class.

I definitely would. Be the first person to respond because that person needs savings on written surveys. Previous hip graduates have stated that they would act heroically in the future, but they have not been tested so far. We waited six weeks and then recruited five hip students for a fake Marketing Event that apparently had nothing to do with their heroism class. We hosted our event at a local church, set up hidden cameras, and hired actors to play the other participants. Finally, for a control group, we also recruited five students who didn't take the fashion class, but what we're really testing is what it feels like to be a bystander and what makes a hero.

This is our control room. From inside, our team will be able to observe everything that happens and will be able to talk to the actors through the headphones they have. hidden inside your ears, this is Lisa and many actors who will create today's crisis. I hope we find a hero. I'll be watching from inside this room with L Charlotte, a smart campus coordinator. Alright, our first subject was IML, who didn't take the hip. class, you have been selected to test a new phone that will be on the market. Wow, that's exciting, it'll be another 10 or 15 minutes.

I'll need to pick up your phones. We take their phones so they don't get distracted. to avoid the possibility of one of them calling the police, okay Lisa Barry, you guys are ready, yeah, go ahead, it was time to create our crisis. I was supposed to get cake, cake, a bullying nurse, and a weak old man who could use some help. a hero on a hot July day had no water there I need you to shut up about the water I think she's realizing what's going on hey Sally, how are you? Come down, I'm talking on the phone, shut up, can I? take my barriers he's always complaining about some now she's looking away because it's kind of hard to look at him like that's not okay.

I don't like this one bit. I just need something. Shut up about the glass of water or sunglasses. she can watch and not be seen watching IML clearly disapproved but none of our actors made a move to help and neither did she we gave her several more minutes but she never got up from the bench come on we wanted to know why So you just participated in a psychological experiment. Everyone here is an actor, except you. Were you watching Barry and Lisa? Oh, I was and having a hard time. Did you feel like it was bad enough that someone had to come in and help?

I kind of trusted that the people around me would probably notice something and, if anything, say something the way you interpreted the situation, since you know why no one else is doing something, then it must not be that important to me. doing something that is the bystander effect more or less shows the power of that situation. I am L. I did not act heroically, it was time to test a modern student. Remember Courtney. He would definitely be the person to respond because that person needs to be saved. Oh, it's the fallopian tubes that provide the medium.

Finger seems to be quite active socially. Yes, Lisa, please, some water. If you stop talking, you won't be as thirsty. Why don't you bring me water? I often have to explain this to you every time you drink water. you have to go to the bathroom hey, how are you doing? He's being his usual rambunctious self I need you, I'm on the phone wow, that's hard - hey, calm down, I'm not kidding, okay, yeah, sure, bye, I told you every time I'm on the phone not to talk or do nothing like this you're totally lost your water privileges for the rest of the day keep going why can't I no why why are you laughing?

I think we have water, okay, yeah, everything is fine, would you like that? some of my water, sir, I would like some water, oh my goodness, for you, sir Courtney showed heroism today, was it thanks to her help in training? My name is Al. I've been working on your imagination project and it looks like I may have learned a few. things from your lessons do you want to tell us a little about your experience you shouldn't be a spectator yes no I just couldn't let it happen how did that affect the way you acted today affected me because I made sure to go I stood up and said something I don't think I would have done if I hadn't learned from that project before.

Truly Courtney, you are a hero. Thanks Courtney. Courtney's behavior seemed to be related to her hip training. Another hip student was next if a situation arose. She would definitely try to be a hero if she could be one or at least she would find someone who could do better than me, but Elijah fulfilled her prediction. There is no way back. What did I just say? Turn around. I have to tell you. something like that I mean, it seems pretty bad I'm sorry, I was quiet, I know they didn't shut you up that's why you won't have water, okay, if you want, the group intervenes, so one of us does it to strengthen my house, very good . our first person to recruit, he is also the leader of the group, yes, using the strategy of being the first in the class, that's fine, thank you also until now, modern students had shown heroism.

We then tested a modern student and a non-modern student at the same time. time they've complained about complaining he's complaining about I'm not complaining you have to take this class if I find myself in a situation where someone would need help I feel more inclined to definitely step in and step forward Would Jessica give a step forward and stop? complaining right now really Wow, I need some water, yes, Catherine and our actress got up to give the band water while fashion student Jessica remained seated. Catherine didn't take the hip class, why did she intervene and why didn't the fashion student take it?

Get ready to help Catherine. Why do you think you were the first? You're not afraid to intervene Jessica. You've been through a program called Hip. Yeah, did you think about that? Yes. I really want to stand up. I really have quite a bit of anxiety. I am NOT a very confrontational person clearly the hero training class was not the only factor at work here we ran the test several more times with a mix of results modern students who helped she went to get help modern students who did nothing and students not moderns who acted heroically, he is doing well, so you know, I secretly gave him berry water, yes, thank you, our last topic of the day.

Ruben didn't take the hip class and we decided to make the heroic action as difficult as possible for him, we told our viewer. The actors did not react to the elder abuse or encourage Rubén in any way. We just arrived Barry. I know, but I'm sure she's not complaining. I'm not going to stop complaining, I just need some water. That's all I need. Get this penetrating look. He is clearly. paying attention but there's just no emotion, yeah, and he gets no feedback from the rest of the group. You're making a scene for no reason. Hey, leave that alone, well, I just want some water.

I just wanted to live in the water. Yes that's fine. just relax despite the notable social costs of being part of such a disaffected group of people, he made this is what i could give him my water while i bake. Wow, personally, if you're taking care of my parents, that means some demands because that's not the way to treat someone without training and without group support. Rubén chose to be a hero. Why if I don't act, no one else will? And I thought: I wish I had gotten up earlier. Now I feel that in the future what will happen.

In a type of situation like this, I wouldn't even think twice. Scientists have studied heroism and one thing they have discovered is that Hispanic and black men are the most likely to intervene. It makes sense, perhaps because of the background we come from as a minority. We have to defend ourselves and I think what we do is something subconscious. I'm just amazed that at this time when it came to being a hero we found that the modern class could only help to a certain extent, an individual environment played a vital role, so 10 Is heroic behavior taught or does it really come down to personality .

I mean, ideally, an educational program should transcend personality differences, but practice makes perfect. The key to heroism is to start with very small steps. Try to do a good deed of kindness and be willing to do it. A more important step was that we had a very small sample size at our rally, but we found that people of color were much more likely to take action. Why is it that if you are a minority person, the system is usually your enemy, so you can't say well? help or the government will help or the owner will help then it's me or no one is right and then you are more sensitive to people in need not all heroes are the same the wisest course of action will not be the same for two people, but you can learn to Look for opportunities to be compassionate and step back to see and consider all the options available.

It is a skill that is exercised like a muscle through repetition. You don't have to wear a cape to be a hero, but if you want, that's fine and, as always, thanks for watching.