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The Stanford Prison Experiment: Are Humans Born Good Or Evil?

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For years there have been numerous articles published and experiments recorded to understand more about human nature. To answer the question, are humans naturally born good or evil? And what variables factor into humans being good or evil? This has been a popular question as the notable “The Stanford Prison Experiment” has concluded that humans are naturally evil despite controversy on demand personality; however, there have been studies done like “Are We Naturally Good or Bad” that concluded that humans prefer good intentions over malicious intentions. But before you can respond to the questions you need to first define what good or evil signifies to you. To me, being a good person is having authentic intentions behind their actions and having …show more content…

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. This expresses that personality is a factor of human behavior, this experiment reveals how human’s personality is how humans acted accordingly when placed in a situation. It depends on a person’s personality is how they act in situations whether their personality is good or bad. Hence, the conclusion that Steven made about his improved Stanford Experiment: “In our test, we make sure that such influences didn’t exist and not one participant acted maliciously, personality rose above the situation” (33:07-33:18). This conveys that when humans are in a situation to cause harm to others, personality plays a factor in their decisions on whether to cause harm or not which impact human

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In society, the people with more power are likely on a higher level than those who have less power. A person who is given orders has the right to decide whether to follow them or not, and this idea is clearly the situation from reading “The Perils of Obedience,” “The Stanford Prison Experiment,” and watching “A Few Good Men.” At the end of the film, why did the two marines not have to go back to jail, but were no longer allowed to be Marines? Why was their case pardoned from prison sentencing?

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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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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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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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Before graduate student, Christina Maslach raised concerns about the environment in the mock prison and the morality of continuing the experiment, Zimbardo, who served as the prison warden, did not take the abusive behavior of the jail guards seriously. In conclusion, in the Stanford prison experiments, a few ethical principles were not adhered to, as prisoners’ human rights were not regarded, putting the participants in possible danger. What should have been different in the Stanford prison experiment?

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Normal People Behaving Evil The Stanford Prison Experiment was an experiment to see if normal people would change their behavior in a role-play as a prisoner or a prison guard. The experiment was conducted by Dr.Philip Zimbardo in 1973 at Stanford University that caused numerous amount of trauma to prisoners by prison guards in their role-playing position which forced Dr. Zimbardo to officially terminate the experiment six days after it was introduced. Due to the cruel aggressive behaviors from the guards, the experiment led to a question, "Do "normal" people have the capability of behaving badly?" The answer to that question is that most likely an individual who behave normally will have the capability of expressing evil behavior due to the environment that they are surrounded.

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Humans are born inherently good and stay that way because while humans can do evil things they themselves aren't evil. Humans can not be evil from every perspective as there is always a reason for any evil thing that might happen. While some things can be seen as pure evil from one angle they can also be seen as completely justified from another. A prime example of this comes from Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. Guy Montag commits many “evil” acts throughout the story.

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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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Stanford Prison Argumentative Essay Have you ever felt like you have another side to you that is evil? There was an experiment done by psychologist Philip Zimbardo. The experiment's main goal was to find out if humans are really evil by nature, and the results show that everyone can be evil, but something has to cause a reaction in your brain where you have to use this "hidden evil" to survive. The Stanford prison experiment was a very beneficial and cruel experiment, but it was a necessary one at that; it opened our eyes to human nature and to how we adapt in our environment to survive. This experiment had a crucial influence on many people's beliefs that humans are evil by nature.

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“What matters isn’t if people are good or bad. What matters is, if they’re trying to be better than they were yesterday” (Michael, The Good Place). There are several definitions of what a good person is. One might define a good person as an individual who does not lie, cheat, or break the law. Others definition may be someone who treats others with nothing but love and respect.

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Some people could be born with evil souls and some could be born with good souls and the reason we are always fighting with each other is because it’s evils opinion against goods opinion. Or are we all born with a nutreal soul and then decide to be either good or evil based on the type of enviroment they grew up in. The most popular opinion is that people are born evil but choose to do good things to make up for it and

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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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This question has been asked for hundreds of years, are humans born inherently good or bad? Some might argue that as people mature, society’s influences ultimately determine whether or not that person will end up being good or bad. These people suggest that humans are naturally born of good intent. Many studies show that this may be true. In another case it can be argued that some people are born with a natural instinct to do bad things.

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Is man evil by nature, or is man evil because of the way they were raised? Though many disagree, man is born with evil in the eyes of society. This is why there is evil in the world and why there is war among

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Many people have varying opinions on whether or not humans born basically good or evil. Personally, I feel that people are born more good than evil. Although we are born good, I feel that our environment and personal experiences further influence how good or evil we are. For example, I feel that we learn to be more good by others when we are taught how to be respectful and helpful to others. On the other hand, I feel that if we have examples of violence or other harmful activities, we are more likely to be bad.

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