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The Stanford Prison Experiment And The Milgram Obedience Experiment

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In this essay I will be analyzing many components of the Stanford Prison Experiment and the Milgram Obedience Experiment. The main findings of the Stanford Prison Experiment revealed that due to the power of their situational roles, participants had truly become the guards and prisoners that they impersonated. Moreover, the experiment showed how people will readily and innately conform to a social role that they are expected to play, even if it is unethical(Musen, 1988). However, there were concerns about the validity and generalizability of the experiment.
In the Stanford Prison Experiment, the use of a nonrandom, convenience sample impacts the validity of the experiment in a substantial way. The experiment cannot be claimed as valid because …show more content…

First of all, because Zimbardo was so heavily involved in the study, it would lead to experimental bias. Experimental bias is when a researcher, Zimbardo in this case, expectations of what will happen impact the interpretation of the results of the study(Buvinger, 2023). It was also confirmed by Zimbardo that his involvement in the study led to him telling the participants exactly how they should treat the prisoners. He even gave the participants an orientation over how they should behave towards the prisoners(Griggs, 2014). Since Zimbardo gave them direct commands on how to behave, he was most likely looking for the results correlated to how he told them to behave over the experiment. He may have been so focused on seeing how the guards treated their prisoners that he totally missed other big findings in the experiment. The participants who were guards also had their experiences impacted by Zimbardo. Since Zimbardo told them how to behave in the study, they felt like they had to comply and do what they were told. This is called demand characteristics, where participants may behave in ways they think are expected of them responding to Subtle or unintentional cues from experimenters(Buvinger, 2023). Because of demand characteristics, the participants did not truly act how they would which deems the results invalid. The subjectivity of the study would lead to extremely biased results in the experiment. Since Zimbardo had such a direct impact on the experiment it is fair to conclude that he would make sure the results fit his hypothesis. Furthermore, the subjectivity of the study may have contributed to the results, such as guard behavior, being padded or embellished to make him seem correct. Now I will transition to the Milgram Obedience

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In the article of “The Perils of Obedience”, written by Stanley Milgram, the experimenter explains that the experiment is to see how far a person could hurt a victim in a situation where he is ordered to do so. Also, in the article “The Stanford Prison

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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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This experiment consisted of a roaster of students who were enrolled to either act as guards or inmates in an imaginary prison setting. This was to test the behavior of humans when put in a non-restrictive authority position over someone with lesser power through labeling. This experiment was set to last for two weeks, but by the sixth day, the guards had become so abusive to the ‘inmates’ that Zimbardo was forced to end the experiment early. Some of the fake inmates had to leave the experiment even earlier due to the abuse they received. After the experiment, almost all the students who participated as guards felt guilty about their actions.

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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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Since the beginning of the human existence, man has always dominated and ruled over one another be it empires, corporations, or small groups. Authority and obedience has always been a factor of who we are. This natural occurrence can be seen clearly through the psychological experiments known as The Milgram Experiment and the Stanford Prison Experiment. Both of these studies are based on how human beings react to authority figures and what their obedience is when faced with conflict.

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Situational effects and personality come into conflict when discussing behavior. Personality is someone’s “usual pattern of behavior, feelings, and thoughts” (Twenge, 2017, p.20). It remains constant throughout different situations, but some situations can be stressful enough to make a person act out of character. The transition between a person’s normal personality and behavior to a more evil, sinister behavior fascinates a man named Philip Zimbardo, who conducted the infamous Zimbardo Prison Experiment, or Stanford Prison Experiment (SPE). Zimbardo is an American psychologist at Stanford University and the mastermind behind the 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment (The Story).

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Dialectic Essay Carter The Stanford Prison Experiment and the Milgram Experiment are two of the most regarded and controversial social psychology experiments ever performed. Completed in the 20th century, both experiments aimed to investigate the effects of power and authority on human behavior. While the Milgram experiment explored an individual's obedience to an authoritative command, the Stanford experiment focused on the effects of power dynamics in a simulated prison environment. Despite their undeniable contributions to our understanding of human conduct, these experiments have also been heavily criticised for their numerous ethical implications.

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On day six Zimbardo and Milgram decided to conclude the experiment. Zimbardo originally intended to explore how prisoners adapt to powerlessness, but he has contended that the experiment demonstrates how swiftly arbitrary assignment of power can lead to abuse. (Maher, The anatomy of obedience. P. 408) Once the experiment was completed Zimbardo and Milgram concluded that generally people will conform to the roles they are told to play.

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Zimbardo would then go out of his way to have kind,intelligent, and compassionate individuals try out for his experiment, when all participants were accounted for, he appointed half the participants as prisoners and half as guards, appointing himself as the warden (The Stanford Prison Experiment). He then allowed these guards to do whatever they pleased, except for physically abuse the participants. To his shock he found that all his once kind, compassionate participants were becoming into ravenous monsters that had no idea of the true damage they were causing to the other participants, Zimbardo himself began to feel these effects. Zimbardo ended the experiment early due to these effects and the mental well being of the participants being in jeopardy . When interviewing the participants he found, that these guards did truly feel remorse, but knew they had to please the higher officials in order to feel accomplished (The Stanford Prison Experiment).

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During the 1971 study, students from Stanford University are randomly chosen to play the role of either a guard or a prisoner in a prison. The guard's job is to maintain order in the prison while the prisoners are supposed to obey the guards. Philip Zimbardo hoped that the results of the experiment would reveal if one's environment controls behavior or if one's attitude, values, and morality allow one to rise above the negative environment (Zimbardo 1:14). When reflecting on the experience an experiment guard recalls, “We were continually called upon to act in a way that just is contrary to what I really feel inside” (Zimbardo 18:45). The students who participated in the experiment act contrary to what they believe to be right because they are deprived of civilization.

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In the video “The Stanford Prison Experiment (Part 2)” Michale Steven concluded: “We brought in people who had very different personalities that those Zimbardo chose. We put them in a situation that did not demand things from them and they behaved accordingly to that personality” (30:00-30:10). This exhibited an experiment that is a development of the original “Stanford Prison Experiment” with improved techniques. It was an experiment in which Steve selected participants who scored high in morals from numerous personality tests and placed them in a dark room where they couldn't see the other participants. And had them attempt to complete a puzzle and give them the option to play an alarming sound for the other participants that didn’t exist which they had control of the volume.

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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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One of the most infamous experiments conducted in the history of psychology was the Stanford Prison Experiment. The main objective of this experiment was to see what effects would occur when a psychological experiment into human nature was performed. As I read through the material provided, I noticed that my thoughts on the matter were similar to many; that it was a complete failure as a scientific research project. However, his findings did provide us with something much more important that is still being talked about today; insight into human psychology and social behavior.

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In 1971, Philip Zimbardo, then a professor of psychology at Stanford University, devised one of the most famous psychological experiments of the twentieth century. In what is known as the Stanford Prison Experiment, he assigned twenty-four young men roles as prisoners and guards, and observed the group dynamics that ensued. To his horror, the study had to be shut down after just six days because the guards were psychologically abusing the prisoners. When the Abu Ghraib story broke in 2004, Zimbardo immediately spotted parallels with his research. He later testified as an expert witness on behalf of Ivan "Chip" Frederick II, a former staff sergeant sentenced to eight years for his role in the abuse of detainees.

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He is a selfish psychologist who just wanted to get a result. He did not realize that he is starting to act like a prison superintendent than a researcher. He only realizes it when Christina Maslach, objected the experiment after she saw that the prisoners were being harassed by the guards. Even if the study has received a lot of ethical criticism, the result still helps Zimbardo to make a conclusion that is helpful for his future endeavor in research.

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