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Stanford Prison Experiment Philip Zimbardo

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The Stanford Prison Experiment The Stanford Prison Experiment was set up by psychologist Philip Zimbardo. The goal of the experiment was to study how being a prisoner or prisoner guard affects a person psychologically. The study was scheduled to last two weeks, but it was ended early due to how the prisoners and guards were reacting to their roles. Many men felt as if the experiment felt like real life and were struggling with internal feelings towards themselves. The guards would force the prisoners to criticize one another, which tore down prisoner 416 in the end of the experiment and ultimately lead to ending the experiment. Overall, I think that this experiment had good expectations and goals, but needed a better plan. The men being involved needed to know more about what they were signing up for because many men didn’t know they would be arrested from their houses and treated just as if they were prisoners. This experiment opened a lot of people’s eyes because it put into reality how prisoners are treated in real life. This experiment is a great illustration of what life as a prisoner or prisoner guard is like in today’s society. This experiment is not ethical because it lacked to fully inform the participants of …show more content…

A few reacted in hopelessness, anger and disobedience against what was being commanded by the guards, which led to punishment. If I were to be a prisoner, I would be one of the ones who didn’t react in disobedience. I have a very mild and shy personality and would do what I was being told by the guards. If men were disobeying the guards and encouraging me to join in, I would most likely not fall for the disobedient prisoners peer pressure. If I were to be a guard, I would be favored by the prisoners because I hate yelling at people or treating people with disrespect. It would be very challenging for me to be rude and strict towards the

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Within 24 hours of the experiment, the prison guards began to humiliate and mentally abuse the prisoners. The prison guards were given little instructions about how to treat the prisoners, except that there was not to be any physical force used on the prisoners. The lack of instructions that

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In summary, the purpose of the Stanford Prison Experiment was supposed to demonstrate that powerful situational forces, much like Abu Ghraib, could over-ride individual dispositions and choices, leading good people to do bad things simply because of the role they found themselves

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Second, The Stanford Prison Experiment was a psychological study that was too inhumane to continue because of the behavior of the prison guards when handed with superiority and the mental breakdowns of the prisoners. E: “Now, you 'll all be given sunglasses and uniforms to give the prisoners a sense of a unified, singular authority… And from this point forward you should never refer to this as a study or experiment again,’’ (Dr. Phil Zimbardo).

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Therefore, it would be difficult to try to replicate the study with complete accuracy to determine if the same results would be reached. Moreover, Zimbardo’s study could not be conducted again due to the ethical standards set in place today. Hypothetically, if we were to conduct the Stanford Prison Experiment study again, I believe we would see the same results. For example, subsequent similar studies have taken place that have similar findings to the Stanford experiment. At the end of the day it is not the characteristics of the guards or the inmates, but the social situation and the system in which the situation occurs that influences such behavior.

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Before the experiment began, all participants went through a psychological evaluation to make sure they were of sound mind (Onishi & Herbert, 2016). Once the experiment began the “prisoners” were arrested and taken to a simulated prison where they were stripped searched and demoralized. During the 6 days that the study lasted, conduct between both sides, prisoners and guards, was less than expectable. Both sides “acted as though a punishment was justified as an acceptable response to a breach of the rules” (Onishi & Herbert, 2016), rules that were vaguely explained.

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The guards were instructed to maintain order anyway they wanted without using physical violence. Zimbardo wanted the guards to seem intimidating while the prisoners were made to look inferior and were to be referred to with their ID number only. After the prisoners were assigned their roles and the guards took their post was the effect of the experiment finally setting in. On the morning of the second day the prisoners began to rebel against the guards by ripping off their ID numbers and barring the doors while taunting the guards. This event was the first step down the slippery slope that would follow.

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The Stanford Prison Experiment was a study that took place at Stanford University in 1971. It studied the psychological effects of going to prison or becoming a prison guard. Researchers set out to find college students to participate and soon had many willing to take part. To begin, the students were separate into two groups, prisoners and prison guards. Philip Zimbardo, lead researcher and “prison superintendent” told the guards to take the experiment seriously and take on a real prison guard persona.

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The guards and prisoners settled into their roles as clear as day and they began to use hatred as their primary solution for some of the guards to stop insulting and degrading them as if they were animals. Becoming submissive with the guards was something Zimbardo found satisfying but nonetheless suprising as the prisoners wanted to build a group of their own to go against the prisoners. The punishments that were given were more than just enough for them to say, “To hell with you and this,” but it was the beginning of a departure between emotion and conflict. More of what was going on with their state of being there began to change the way they behaved with simple diagnostics and traits that the guards were imposing on them. As the second day of this experiment approached, it was much more like all hell broke lose and the prisoners truly got the idea of not showing mercy to those who try to annihilate who they were and went against the prison guards and threw much more than a tirade.

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The experiment I chose to research was the Stanford Prison Experiment conducted by Zimbardo in 1971. Zimbardo wanted to figure out if the brutality in prison was due to the guards or the prisoners. He asked questions such as dose “…the institutional roles of guard and prisoner embitter and harden even compassionate people.” He wanted to know if the people that are within the prison system make the prison violent or dose the prison make these people violent. Zimbardo conducted in experiment where male college students volunteered to play prison in a makeshift prison in the basement of the Stanford phycology department.

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The long-term effects of the Stanford Prison Guard experiment are that it has showed that social roles are a dominant strength in human nature. The guards and prisoners lived as though they were actually guards and prisoners.

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Perhaps he should have revised the experiment to create a more controlled environment. The guards were given two rules: do not hit the prisoners, and do not keep them in the hole for longer than an

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They also concluded that the environment of the prison played a vital role in the way the guards treated the prisoners. It is believed that this experiment changed the way some U.S. prisons are

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In 1971 at Stanford University, Philip Zimbardo conducted the very famous prison study. In this experiment 24 boys were chosen to be split up into the rules of prisoners and guards. The experiment was set up to study how people conformed to their rules in a prison setting. During the first day, the students had trouble fitting into their initial rules, but by day two there was prisoner rebellion. The guards were not allowed to physically harm the prisoners, so they used more of a psychological punishment.

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In 1971 Dr. Zimbardo a psychologist professor at Stanford University conducted an experiment with 24 college student and recruited them to play the roles of guards and prisoners in a mock prison system. This experience was to gain insight of daily prison life between the guards and the prisoner when one has power, which we be the guards. In on the other hand the prisoner who will be the powerless this was the reason to create a prison environment that would fabricated simulation of a real life prisoners and guards daily activities. Professor Zimbardo fabricated a simulation of a jail by converting the basement of Stanford University to a prison. The 24 male causation college students from various colleges in the United States were evaluation for any abnormalities before the experiment they all were normal and capable to do the experience.

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While the test subjects did in fact consent to the experiment via documents, they developed this false understanding through the experiment that they could not leave at any time, that “there was no way out”. During this time period, there were no existing laws that this experiment violated but it did pave the way for several to be introduced. For example, in the consent form it stated that the prisoners would not experience physical harm, but several days later they were brutally beaten by the guards. A few scenarios such as this one would be considered illegal with today’s legal system. One law that was created after this required federal prisons to separate minors awaiting trial from adults to avoid them suffering from abuse.

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