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The Stanford Prison And The Milgram Experiment

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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. In the experiment, Zimbardo converted a basement of the Stanford University psychology building into a mock prison and asked 75 applicants to participate. 24 men were chosen to participate and were paid $15 per day. Prisoners were arrested at their own homes, blindfolded, and driven to Stanford University's psychology department, where the deindividuation process began. Within no time the guards and the prisoners began to change. In the video …show more content…

One guard, in particular, showed a level two of Morality boys put in the positions to be guards really took the role of a Guard seriously they strived to obey rules and social norms to win the approval of the other guards. They wanted to show that being in authority means power over everything, most guards didn't want to seem to be not worthy of power. They got to a stage of social order maintaining morality when the guards were put into these positions they started to change and conform to the rules and laws to maintain power over the prisoners. The guards started to retaliate by using fire extinguishers, stripping the prisoners and taking their beds out, and harassing and intimidating the prisoners. Some prisoners received special treatment. Three prisoners were given special privileges. They got their uniforms back, could wash their hair and brush their teeth, and could eat

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406 Words | 2 Pages

The Stanford prison experiment was led by Philip Zimbardo with the purpose of studying the psychological effects of being a prisoner and a prison guard. The participants of the research study were male college students. Once selected, a coin toss determined which males would be prisoners and prison guards. The experiment took place at Stanford University, where a mock prison was crafted. Zimbardo acted as the warden or superintendent of the mock prison.

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A: The guards were given power by having a uniform, the ability to make their own rules for the prisoners, changing the way they saw themselves and behaved. E: “Prisons, they represent… a loss of freedom, literally and symbolically. We 're trying to strip away their individuality… Take away all the

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The prisoners are obedient to the guards partly because they no longer feel like they deserve to stand up for themselves. The guards themselves are stripped of their personalities as well when they all have to wear matching uniforms, but in return they are given power. When the prisoners lack confidence and self respect, it is implied that they will more than likely become submissive to the guards who have growing confidence and power. The article implies that when assigned a position, whether it is pleasant or not, many will conform to this position and live it. This is apparent in A Few Good Men, when a character named Markinson knows that what he is doing is wrong, but continued to do it because he is a high rank and is in power.

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417 Words | 2 Pages

The Stanford Prison Experiment was a research study administered by Philip Zimbardo in 1971, which gathered twenty-four men to be put into a pseudo-jail to see the impacts of prison on the guards and inmates. Twelve of these volunteers were randomly selected to be inmates and the other twelve became guards. Not surprisingly, the inmates endured incredible torment and a few of them had psychological collapses due to severe emotional distress. The guards were consumed with their own power and felt little sympathy for the inmates that were under their care and stripped them, whipped them, dehumanized them. The research was expected to keep going for two weeks; however it went on for only six days due to the inmates encountering damaging levels

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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.

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810 Words | 4 Pages

This experiment was conducted in Stanford University by Dr. Zimbardo. During this two week long session, Dr. Zimbardo had several volunteers agree to act as prisoners and as prison guards. The prisoners were told to wait in their houses while the guards were to set up the mock prison, a tactic used by Dr. Zimbardo to make them fit into their roles more. The official police apprehended the students assigned to the role of prisoner from their homes, took mug shots, fingerprinted them, and gave them dirty prison uniforms. The guards were given clean guard uniforms, sunglasses, and billy clubs borrowed from the police.

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689 Words | 3 Pages

The Stanford Prison Experiment is one of the most infamous and controversial psychological experiments to ever take place to this day. In 1971, Phillip Zimbardo created an experiment that tested the changes one endures when they have to adapt in a prison environment and provided an explanation for the dehumanizing effects of the penile system. 24, college-aged, men were chosen to participate in the 2 week long experiment by flipping a coin to decide whether they’re given the role of prisoner or guard. After their roles were determined, they were given uniforms, cells, identification numbers, etc. Little did he know that the results of this experiment would give some of the most ethically challenged results of time.

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Methods and Violations of the Stanford Prison Experiment Oliva Jarvis University of Phoenix Oliva Jarvis University of Phoenix Psych/599: Foundations of Graduate Study in Psychology Judith Sugg Monday July 10th, 2023 Methods and violations of the Stanford prison experiment The Stanford prison experiment showed, in an intriguing way, how quickly people may be swayed by their surroundings when assigned particular tasks. The experiment's most significant effects were on psychology research methodologies and how to safeguard participants in studies involving both human and animal subjects as well as the researchers themselves in the event of violations of the American Psychological Association ethical guidelines. Stanford Experiment In 1971 Dr. Philip Zimbardo conducted an experiment with the focus to understand human behavior in a particular setting, in this case prison, Mcray (2015). The study’s goal was to figure out how the behavior was affected by the role-playing, labeling, and social expectations over the course of two weeks, (Zimbardo, 2004).

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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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The Stanford Prison Experiment conducted by Haney, Banks, and Zimbardo happened in 1973. It displayed how trivial emotion and behavior are; Zimbardo intended to show that the situation rather than disposition factors caused negative behavior and thought patterns by conducting a prison simulation with regular individuals to play the role of guard or prisoner. The power imbalance would contribute to decision-making when their behavior isn't reprimanded or even rewarded. The participants volunteered to receive extra credit when viewing an advert in the newspaper. The volunteers were judged to be emotionally stable and physically healthy without any history of mental illness including minimum conduct with the

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767 Words | 4 Pages

In 1971, Philip Zimbardo a psychology professor, at Stanford who desired to learn about the development of norms and the results of roles, labels, and social expectations in a fabricated prison environment.

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1087 Words | 5 Pages

The Stanford prison experiment was a study conducted in 1971 that consisted of 22 subjects, half of which were assigned to be “prisoners”, and the other half assigned to be “guards” in a fake prison. (Haney, Banks & Zimbardo, 1973). The original purpose of the study was to provide insight into how the United States prison system functions and the psychological effects of being an inmate in a prison. The study also sought to explain the “deplorable condition of our penal system and its dehumanizing effects on prisoners and guards”. (Haney, Banks & Zimbardo, 1973).

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Unit 1 Written Assignment Literature Review of article on Standard Prison Experiment Introduction This article concerns the Stanford Prison experiment carried out in 1971 at Stanford University. The experiment commenced on August 14, and was stopped after only six days. It is one of the most noted psychological experiments on authority versus subordinates. The studies which emerged from this have been of interest to those in prison and military fields due to its focus on the psychology associated with authority.

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Authority gives a person the chance to feel superior, and as seen throughout this film, those within the position of authority will only then abuse this opportunity. Given the chance for people to gain authority or rather the sense of authority is enough to awaken the evil within. Within the movie, The Stanford Prison Experiment the guards were enabled to set a line of difference between the prisoners and themselves. They were able to make the prisoners feel weak or emasculated, forcing the students to strip and wear the assigned prison clothes that barely covered their genitals (Alvarez). Forcing the prisoners to wear these feminine articles of clothing and assigning them a number, gives the opportunity to strip away their personality and

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746 Words | 3 Pages

They were stripped naked and had all their personal possessions removed. They were only given a prison dress and has a chain on their right foot. On the other hand, the guards wore identical khakis. They were instructed to do whatever they thought is right to maintain law and order in the prison. But they are not given a permission to abuse the prisoners physically.

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