Dr Phil Zimbardo's TED Talk - How ordinary people become monsters ... or heroes

[fiddlersinmyhouse aka Elizabeth Wellburn]

The video (http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/philip_zimbardo_on_the_psycholog...) is an excellent resource for teachers who want to understand the psychology of evil, and see how closely it is related to ordinary behaviour, then be inspired by the wonderful message that ordinary people can be heroes.

Dr. Zimbardo is working on the concept of a curriculum to promote the conditions that lead individuals to seize the heroic moment.

Please note: There are portions of this that are not easy to watch, so, as mentioned, this should be considered as a teacher resource.



Part of this are not easy to watch,

[Matt Langdon]

I've got an edited version of Phil's speech on my YouTube page. I'm working with him in his Hero Project.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6DpoO28gr0

Love the book and the video. Great work.

[fiddlersinmyhouse aka Elizabeth Wellburn]

Thanks for this Matt,

The portion of the TED talk that you've selected is totally appropriate for the younger audience, so, to give it a more visible profile on this site, I've added the embed code to the "videos" section.

[fiddlersinmyhouse aka Elizabeth Wellburn]

I just wanted to mention that I've created a new "links" block on the main page of this site and I'm including your Hero Workshop page as the first link!

[Patricia Toombs]

Anyone looking for a GREAT heroes curriculum should check out www.giraffe.org. We are a non profit that has been in existence for 25 years. We find and honor individuals who are 'sticking their necks out for the common good' and have a wonderful K-12 service learning curriculum that inspires and guides young people to find that hero within themselves - in order to become engaged in their community ( local to global) on issues that matter to them! Happy to communicate with anyone who would like to know more. Patty Toombs
Director of Education
[e-mail]

[fiddlersinmyhouse aka Elizabeth Wellburn]

Thanks for this Patty. I forget whether I've already asked you if the Giraffe was related to Marshall Rosenberg's Compassionate Communication strategy (I know he has used Giraffe puppets when explaining conflict resolution to children).

I am a big fan of his work, e.g.

http://www.cnvc.org/node/369

Somehow his #1 skill
"Differentiating observation from evaluation, being able to carefully observe what is happening free of evaluation, and to specify behaviors and conditions that are affecting us" seems to me to be highly related to the idea of being free from mindless roles and aware of situational influences.

[fiddlersinmyhouse aka Elizabeth Wellburn]

Update:
You can access Zimbardo directly via Stanford University's "Open Office Hours" on Facebook:


http://www.openculture.com/2009/05/stanford_open_office_hours_on_fa...

This is a pretty exciting concept!