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Stanford Prison Experiment By Philip Zimbardo

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The Stanford Prison Experiment, carried out by Philip Zimbardo in 1971, revealed the significant influence of social structure on violence and brutality in prisons. This essay will look at how Zimbardo's study revealed a link between the way relationships are structured inside of prisons and the rise of aggressive and abusive conduct. It will also suggest adjustments to the social structure of jails that might lessen violence. It will also include any potential opposition to the reforms and the difficulties in putting them into practice. College students were given roles as guards or convicts at random in Zimbardo's experiment, which involves simulating a prison setting. The participants in the trial were in such severe psychological discomfort that the experiment, which was supposed to last two weeks, was stopped after only six days. The results demonstrated how the establishment of jail brutality and violence was influenced by the established roles and power dynamics within the simulated prison environment. …show more content…

Given positions of control, the guards started to use their power in degrading ways. To establish power over the captives, they used a variety of strategies, including physical punishment, psychological blackmail, and verbal abuse. On the other hand, the inmates were stripped of their uniqueness, turned into dehumanized objects, humiliated, treated poorly, and made helpless. Another important point made by Zimbardo's experiment was the effect of deindividuation and responsibility dispersal on the onset of prison violence. The guards' feeling of personal responsibility was diminished by their uniforms and masks, allowing them to act aggressively and abusively in ways they otherwise might not have. The guards' division of labor increased the risk of violence since it reduced individual accountability within the

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842 Words | 4 Pages

The Stanford Prison Experiment was a social psychology study that aimed to investigate the effects of power and authority on human behavior. In the experiment, participants were randomly assigned roles as prisoners or guards in a simulated prison environment. The results of the experiment showed that the participants' behavior was heavily influenced by their role and the power dynamics at play. The guards became increasingly authoritarian and abusive, while the prisoners became submissive and

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147 Words | 1 Pages

In “The Standford Prison Experiment”, Philip G. Zimbardo, shows an example of how people who have power uses to abuse others to help show their dominance and power by using the prison experiment that was used at Stanford. Showing how people with power who are the guards are hurting the defenseless prisoners. This is shown in the article by the author when he said “I have singled him out for the special abuse both because he begs for it and because I simply don’t like him”( Philip 75). Showing how when guards were giving their power they demonstrated on the prisoners who in this experiment were seen as the victims or the prey of the violence that was used on them. To then show how they have power and quash the prisoner's moral of rebelling.

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751 Words | 4 Pages

In 1971, Philip Zimbardo set out to conduct an experiment to observe behavior as well as obedience. In Philip Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison experiment, many dispute whether it was obedience or merely conforming to their predesigned social roles of guards and prisoners that transpired throughout the experiment. Initially, the experiment was meant to test the roles people play in prison environment; Zimbardo was interested in finding out whether the brutality reported among guards in American prisons was due to the sadistic personalities of the guards, disposition, or had more to do with the prison environment. This phenomenon has been arguably known to possibly influencing the catastrophic similarities which occurred at Abu Ghraib prison in 2003.The

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Introduction I chose to write my critical reflection paper on the supplemental reading “Targeting Violence,” written by Daniel Lockwood. I chose this reading because I have always had a strong interest in prison violence and what the true consequences of that violence are. I was also hoping to gain more understanding of what inmate violence is like. Brief Overview of the Reading

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1182 Words | 5 Pages

Other guards joined in, and other prisoners were also tormented. The prisoners were taunted with insults and petty orders; they were given pointless and boring tasks to accomplish; and they were generally dehumanized. The prisoners soon adopted prisoner-like behavior, too. They talked about prison issues. ” The prisoners assume the roles they are given due to the environment, and so do the guards.

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2191 Words | 9 Pages

Back in 1971 there was a prison experiment that took place in Stanford University and it explains clearly why these cases happen in the prison and jail environment. Philip Zimbardo, a psychologist did this study to show what kind of behavior happens when they people are given authority and it also shows how they use their power affecting the situation they are put into. In this research paper we are going to visit the case of Los Angeles Men’s central jail and find out what went wrong. We will also take a look into what happened in Abu Gharib prison and see if this is an ongoing trend in the correction facilities. We will then look back on the Stanford Prison study conducted by the psychologist Philip Zimbardo in 1971 to see if this experiment truly proves that behavior does change resulting in the abuse of the inmates by the officers.

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603 Words | 3 Pages

The inner moral compulsion to obey is what drives most social organizations. Sykes (2007) described several structural defects that occurred in the New Jersey State prison. Sykes (2007) argues that power in prison is not based on authority therefore prison officials have to find other means to get prisoners to abide by the rules and regulations. The ability to use force to maintain order on a large scale in the prison is an illusion. According to Sykes (2007), Certain privileges such mailing and visiting, personal possessions, time-off for good behavior etc. are given to the inmate all at once upon his or her arrival to the prison.

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876 Words | 4 Pages

The Stanford Prison Experiment was conducted by Phillip Zimbardo at Stanford University in 1971 and was funded by the US Naval Office. The experiment consisted of 24 volunteer college students who were paid $15 a day to serve as guards and prisoners in a simulated prison environment. Prior to the experiment, each volunteer was given a diagnostic interview to eliminate anyone with “psychological problems, medical disabilities, or a history of crime or drug abuse.” The experiment “was intended to measure the effect of role-playing, labeling, and social expectations on behavior over a period of two weeks,” but Zimbardo ended it after six days due to abuse by the guards and the psychological wellbeing of the prisoners. By the second day of the experiment, Zimbardo already noticed behavioral changes in both the guards and prisoners.

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Stanford Prison Experiment Philip Zimbardo questioned, “What happens when you put good people in an evil place? Does humanity win over evil, or does evil triumph?” (Zimbardo, 1971) In 1971 a psychologist named Philip Zimbardo conducted an experiment on the effects prison has on young males with the help of his colleague Stanley Milgram. They wanted to find out if the reports of brutality from guards was due to the way guards treated prisoners or the prison environment.

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1010 Words | 5 Pages

What does it mean to be in a role of a prisoner and a guard? We answer this question by examining two main experiments, The Stanford Prison and the Milgram Experiment. Both emphasize the different experiences of power relationships, and how a certain amount of power can change a person based on the situation and the person. In the Stanford prison experiment, Philip Zimbardo created a prison-like environment for college students to research the effects of power structures and labeling in a prison setting.

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554 Words | 3 Pages

Handfuls of students at Stanford University were quick to respond to a seemingly innocuous newspaper advertisement for a job that promised to pay fifteen dollars a day, an attractive offer for broke college students. Of those who were interested, twenty-four males were selected and deemed mentally and physically healthy. Then, they were each assigned roles as prisoners or guards for a prison simulation held in the basement of Jordan Hall at their university. To most psychology students, this situation sounds quite familiar. Based on Phillip Zimbardo’s 1971 psychology experiment, the 2015 film, The Stanford Prison Experiment, provides a disturbing view into human nature and tendency.

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641 Words | 3 Pages

In 1971, Philip Zimbardo and his associates at Stanford University conducted a highly influential and contentious study named the Stanford Prison Experiment (SPE). Originally setting out to prove that positional factors affected prison conduct equally as much as or even more so than dispositional factors, the study not only supported their theory but also garnered extensive media coverage along with significant ethical ramifications. Furthermore, a docudrama thriller film of the same name, directed by Kyle Patrick Alvarez, premiered in 2015—aiming to disseminate the events of the study to a wider audience. Consequently, the SPE continues to remain highly controversial and one of social psychology’s most well-known experiments.

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1368 Words | 6 Pages

Zimbardo took part in the experiment as the prison supervisor. If this were a truly thought-through experiment, he would have had no part in the experiment rather than simply reviewing and analyzing the results. Rather, he overlooked many issues within the makeshift prison, such as disputes, and encouraged them to perform as he wanted. In “The Real Lesson of the Stanford Prison Experiment”, it was stated that Zimbardo’s interpretation of events was far too shaped by his expectations, he wanted them to turn on each other just because they had new roles with more or less power than they had before. He was searching far too hard for results, which led to the ‘experiment’ failure.

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1129 Words | 5 Pages

The second aspect that should be highlighted from the author’s hypothesis is that guards themselves, the authority was in a specific mind-set which comes with the role, and most significantly the uniform which played a major role. This enabled them, psychology to commit the negative acts against the prisoners in the experiment. What reinforces this idea the uniforms enabled this is the experiment encouraged negative as well as positive engagement with the prisoners. However most of those involved in the guard roles engaged almost entirely in negative behavior.

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746 Words | 3 Pages

Another thing that makes this experiment beautiful is that it can help the police and military offices to train their people in coping the stress of being imprisoned among the prisoners. It would help them to know how that prison environment has a great factor in creating brutal behavior among the

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