John Wayne Hellman - The Ubber Guard

Mr. Pessimistic · Wed Nov 28, 2007 7:30 pm

From Ch. 9, pg 192:


	Quote: (Based on information from the Volunteer Background Form) In response to the question 'What do people like most about you?" Hellman radiated confidence: 'People at first admire me because of my talent and outgoing personality. Few know my real capabilities at human relationships.' In response to the negative version, 'What do people like least about you?' Hellman gave us a insight into this young man's complex character and a hint of what is to come when he is given absolute power. He wrote, 'My impatience with stupidity, a total disregard for people whose life style I do not agree with. My exploitation of some people, my bluntness, my confidence.'

Now. The reason I single this ouot is to question the selection process and the assurance throughout the early chapters that Zimbardo has chosen stable, average individuals for this project. I am sorry, but if someone responded as Hellman did, how could anyone consider this person stable or suitable for this kind of experiment? Maybe I dont know psychological profiling, but the two answers Hellman gave are quite opposite and to me shows someone with a split personality!

I mean, is he someone with an "outgoing personality" that has implied good "capabilities at human relationships". Or is this person someone who is "impatient with [stupid people] and who disregards/exploits "people whose life style [he does] not agree with."

In my opinion...they should have seen the abuse he doled out coming.

Or is it just me?

Mr. P.

JulianTheApostate · Thu Nov 29, 2007 2:01 am

It's not surprising the questions "What do people like most about you?" and "What do people like least about you?" reveal different aspects of someone's personality. In other words, if you ask someone a variety of psychological questions, some of their responses will differ from an average healthy person.

When Zimbardo screened out unbalanced people, he still wanted a reasonable range of personality types. It's not like he interviewed hundreds of people and chose the 1% or were most together.

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