The secret power of time

The short presentation below shows the social psychologist Zimbardo on the ‘time perspective’: whether people exhibit risky behavior depends, among other things, on whether they mainly reflect on their own behavior in the past, present, or just about the implications for the future. This principle is also used in behavioral interventions for offenders, where they learn to control their impulses and to think about the consequences of their behavior. Zimbardo is famous for the Stanford Prison Experiment, in which he showed how ordinary people in certain circumstances, can start abusing other people in no time. He did so with an experiment in which students were given the role of custodian detainees. The experiment got completely out of hand. This video takes about 6 minutes.