Success and a Correlation with Extreme Self-Interest
People want to be successful. Individuals, regardless of their occupation or lifestyle generally want to be good at what they do and to lead a successful life. Similarly, people often put their self-interests above the interests of others at any expense. And while this is not necessarily a problem when people are conscious of the way in which their actions impact others, especially in moderation. Often one may make a conscious and intentional decision to destroy others in the name of pure self-interest and success. This is evident through the writings of Phil Zimbardo in The Lucifer Effect, and the documentaries, People Like Us and Two American Families. Such that it can be established that …show more content…
The most extreme and infamous example of this being the Stanford Prison Experiment, in which a group assigned to be guards were given the task to not let the prisoners escape. The guards performed their task to an incredible degree. People, when given a job, want to be successful, often for a variety of reasons, but most importantly is that they want to be successful at their job. In many ways this was possible because the guards were in a position of absolute power and were therefore unable to see the humanity of the prisoners and instead often treated them as poorly. This too is similar in the arguments Zimbardo makes about the Rwandan Genocide in the 1990s, in which interviews and documentation about those who carried out the genocide were indifferent to, not only the plight of others but that they were more interested in following orders and doing a “good” job at slaughtering their neighbors communities. Specifically in regards to cases of genocide often the individual perpetrators, not necessarily the masterminds, believed that by doing this they would be more successful by eliminating a group that often is almost entirely scapegoated and blamed for all the problems that a society is facing. Therefore showing that these individuals who often get swept up in the zealotry and fervor are partly doing it for self-interested success oriented …show more content…
This is evident throughout the documentaries Two American Families and People Like Us. In which the exclusivity of upper class society in the united states reflects on their economic and social interests in which upper class society will do anything to maintain their power over others and where in Two American families; middle class families struggle against a growing gap between rich and poor in which to maintain their success they make massive social and familial sacrifices. This is also evident through Phil Zimbardo’s the Lucifer Effect in which extreme examples of societal pressures drive individuals to be successful in the occupation at the expense of others. Part of this asks the question then, what can we do to be aware of our success driven self-interests and how can we balance those with the needs of
People want to be successful. Individuals, regardless of their occupation or lifestyle generally want to be good at what they do and to lead a successful life. Similarly, people often put their self-interests above the interests of others at any expense. And while this is not necessarily a problem when people are conscious of the way in which their actions impact others, especially in moderation. Often one may make a conscious and intentional decision to destroy others in the name of pure self-interest and success. This is evident through the writings of Phil Zimbardo in The Lucifer Effect, and the documentaries, People Like Us and Two American Families. Such that it can be established that …show more content…
The most extreme and infamous example of this being the Stanford Prison Experiment, in which a group assigned to be guards were given the task to not let the prisoners escape. The guards performed their task to an incredible degree. People, when given a job, want to be successful, often for a variety of reasons, but most importantly is that they want to be successful at their job. In many ways this was possible because the guards were in a position of absolute power and were therefore unable to see the humanity of the prisoners and instead often treated them as poorly. This too is similar in the arguments Zimbardo makes about the Rwandan Genocide in the 1990s, in which interviews and documentation about those who carried out the genocide were indifferent to, not only the plight of others but that they were more interested in following orders and doing a “good” job at slaughtering their neighbors communities. Specifically in regards to cases of genocide often the individual perpetrators, not necessarily the masterminds, believed that by doing this they would be more successful by eliminating a group that often is almost entirely scapegoated and blamed for all the problems that a society is facing. Therefore showing that these individuals who often get swept up in the zealotry and fervor are partly doing it for self-interested success oriented …show more content…
This is evident throughout the documentaries Two American Families and People Like Us. In which the exclusivity of upper class society in the united states reflects on their economic and social interests in which upper class society will do anything to maintain their power over others and where in Two American families; middle class families struggle against a growing gap between rich and poor in which to maintain their success they make massive social and familial sacrifices. This is also evident through Phil Zimbardo’s the Lucifer Effect in which extreme examples of societal pressures drive individuals to be successful in the occupation at the expense of others. Part of this asks the question then, what can we do to be aware of our success driven self-interests and how can we balance those with the needs of