Analysis Of The Stanford Prison Experiment, By Philip Zimbardo

There was a time not even a month ago that an incident was brought to the attention of the author in which a close friend was battling the issues of unfairness in the classroom. The student was intelligent and smart, but they felt the biased opinion of the teacher against their education. The teacher would directly call out the student at inappropriate times and criticize the disadvantages of the student, without giving them an equal opportunity. The student tried relentlessly to improve the teacher 's view about them, but their futile attempts were blatantly thrown aside and the prejudice persevered. Upon the time in which the student had the opportunity to apply for more advanced classes to promote his education, the teacher boldly stated

The experiment encompassed assigning college students the roles of a prisoner or a guard in a prison facility. The guards were instructed not to physically harm the prisoners, but also instructed to maintain order. Throughout the experiment, the tasks of the guards grew to be more morbid and increasingly destructive in order for them to maintain the role as guards. As for the prisoners, the abuse they were subject to altered their state of mind and over half of the prisoners abandoned the test due to severe emotional reactions. The original two week experiment was cut short to only six days due to the severity of the abusive situations. Psychologists goal in this experiment was to evaluate the effect of roles, labels, and social expectations in a simulated environment. According to Zimbardo, “[The] Stanford Prison Experiment… was a classic demonstration of the power of social situations to distort personal identities and long cherished values and morality as students internalized situated identities in their roles as prisoners and guards.” This experiment was used to show how the role of an authoritative figure in the prison system affects the morals of the person. However, the position of power can be given to many different people and those people just might take it too far, similar to the guards in

However, when power gets in the way, the instructors lose a sense of morality and become discourteous towards the students. In the same way, the Stanford Prison Experiment analysed how roles of power changed the personality of the volunteers to one of a condescending nature. Both the experiment and education systems can cause the downfall of the prisoners and students by the powerless group being subject to the ridicule and vulgarity of the powerful. Regardless, it is important to keep in mind, not all guards in prisons, nor all teachers come across as vile to the opposing group. However, power tends to change the the perception of situations to the group in charge and can cause feelings of hopelessness and depression. The SPE is a clear example of how power can transform any situation in which someone is given leadership to result in people being subject to a tyrannical