Study Essay: The Stanford Prison Experiment

The Stanford Prison Study

The Stanford Prison study was not only known to be a very controversial study but also proof of a common psychological theory at the time. The study aimed to evaluate the dispositional hypothesis, an ideology that tried to explain the appalling conditions of a prison environment and the negatively affected behavior and mindset of inmates and guards. This hypothesis stated that the “state of the social institution of prison is due to the ‘nature’ of the people who administer it, or the ‘nature’ of the people who populate it, or both,” (Haney, Banks, & Zimbardo, 1973, pg. 2). Thus, to analytically evaluate this theory, researchers had to observe the pattern of behavior that resulted from a prison-like setting. However, due to the present negative effects of the environment and people in current prisons, it would be confusing to differentiate one from the other. Therefore, the focus of the Stanford Prison Study was to simulate a prison-like environment in which average people play the roles of “guards” and “prisoners,” and then observe the

The media negatively portrays prisons by showing inhuman treatment of the inmates, feeding the “cliché” that prisons are to be hated (Haney et al., 1973, pg. 2). By having better control of the contributing causes of brutality, dehumanization, and degradation exhibited in prisons, we can better control the outcome of the environment and characteristics of the inmates and guards. The study also shed light on the causes of the situations like concentration camps and prisons in the past and not repeating the same mistake over again. However, the dispositional hypothesis can be used alter similar cases where individuals or groups of people have ultimate power and how it affects others. The study was valuable and informative and contributed to our knowledge of human behavior exposed to harsh