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Psychology and the New Heroism

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Philip Zimbardo is professor emeritus of psychology at Stanford University and creator of the renowned Stanford Prison Experiment. Daniel Ellsberg served in the Pentagon under Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and is best known as the whistleblower who released documents known as the Pentagon Papers to the public which detailed the secrets and lies that shaped three decades of American foreign policy in Vietnam.

These two icons of progressive thought in America met for the first time to discuss a salient question for our times: Why are some people willing to take courageous nonviolent action in defense of ethical principles, even at personal risk to themselves?

This video captures their conversation and calls for a new era of truth-telling by citizens privy to crucial and often classified information that the public deserves to know. They call for a new ethic of accountability by those leaders who govern the United States, its judiciary and its military. They challenge ordinary people to take calculated risks in the service of their conscience and their fellow citizens.

This defines the New Heroism.

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