More handpicked essays just for you.
A Report on The Stanford Prison Experiment
Stanford prison experiment explained and theory
Stanford prison experiment 1970s
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
The Stanford Prison Experiment (SPE) had a main goal to find out how much of an influence a specific setting location could have on how individuals behave. The experiment took place in 1971 and many psychologists used as a reference to analyze people’s mind under certain circumstance. Young individuals were given the roles of prisoner and guard in prison-like setting located at the Psychology department Stanford University. I strongly believe that this experiment was ethically wrong and did not surprise me at all, since the participant in the study were not fully aware of how dangerous the experiment could turn. Furthermore, the guards were acting like real inmate’s officers
In 1971, Philip Zimbardo set out to conduct an experiment to observe behavior as well as obedience. In Philip Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison experiment, many dispute whether it was obedience or merely conforming to their predesigned social roles of guards and prisoners that transpired throughout the experiment. Initially, the experiment was meant to test the roles people play in prison environment; Zimbardo was interested in finding out whether the brutality reported among guards in American prisons was due to the sadistic personalities of the guards, disposition, or had more to do with the prison environment. This phenomenon has been arguably known to possibly influencing the catastrophic similarities which occurred at Abu Ghraib prison in 2003.The
The ¨Stanford Prison Experiment¨ was a breakdown of the morals and rules on how people would act toward one another due to their environment, rather than how they should. The study had created more questions than answers, specifically about the darkness and lack of moral standards that inhabits the human soul. It showed that methodical abuse and denial of human rights is nothing new in prison facilities. The novel Lord of the Flies shows how easily people become dangerous depending on their situation, and how easily humans become savages when there are no definite rules. Lord of the Flies and ¨The Stanford Prison Experiment¨ have many similarities in the way they both show the effects that occur when you lose all moral standards, and lack of rules.
Stanford Prison Study: The Stanford prison study was created by Philip Zimbardo who wanted to know what happens if you put good people into bad situations. He created an experiment in which individuals were given a role as a prisoner or a guard. They were then placed in a mock prison and instructed to play their roles for two weeks. As the individuals accepted the roles more and more they started to lose reality. Prisoners started going crazy because they were being treated so terribly by the guards.
In August of 1971, psychology professor Philip Zimbardo conducted the Stanford prison experiment, which was funded by the U.S military to investigate the causes of dissension between military guards and prisoners. As the experiment commenced, the participating college students adapted to their roles as guards and detainees in the prison far beyond the expectations of Zimbardo. Authoritarian measures were enforced harshly upon those who were the prisoners, with some even subjected to psychological torture. However, many of the prisoners accepted this treatment passively, allowing psychological abuse and harassment to be inflicted. The experiment concluded that situation, rather than an individual's personality, affected the participants' behavior.
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.
In 1971 Professor Phillip Zimbardo was interested in finding out what would happen if you put a good person in an evil place. Would the institution control their behavior or would a person attitude, values, morality raise about the negative environment? First, Zimbardo converted a basement of Stanford University into a mock prison, Next, Zimbardo recruiter 24 male college students who were paid $15 per day to take part in the experiment. Finally, the recruiters were randomly assigned to either prisoner or guard with Zimbardo being the make shift prison warden. I believe the prison study was unethical, clearly young men suffered physically, mentally.
In 1973, a psychological experiment was orchestrated and performed by the professor of Psychology at Stanford University by the name of Phillip K. Zimbardo. This experiment was deemed unethical on many levels by countless people around the world. It raised questions about the ability of people who were forced to exist in oppressive or obedient roles and was known as The Stanford Prison Experiment. Philip Zimbardo began to research how prisoners and guards assume obedient and authoritative roles. The so called prisoners were acquired through an advertisement placed in a local newspaper.
The Stanford Prison Experiment is a well known experiment. It was lead by Philip Zimbardo in 1971 at Stanford University. The experiment was titled A Study of Prisoners and Guards in a Simulated Prison. It was conducted to prove that when in a setting such as prison, guards will fall into roles that would fit their title rather than a role that would follow their personal morals or beliefs. On the other hand, the prisoners were expected to show how someone would act when they have nothing and are stripped of their personal identity with almost all rights taken away.
The Stanford Prison Study I would like to discuss the Stanford Prison Experiment that was run in 1971 by Professor Philip Zimbardo. The aim of this prison experiment is to study the psychology of humans such as ethics, the psychological impacts of authority, and social expectations (Leithead, 2011). This experiment studied the situations of the volunteers who acted like prisoners and guards. But, the prison experiment shut down in just six days although they supposed two weeks. The reason is that the volunteers who acted like prisoners and guards suffered from mental attacks such as some suffered from mental breakdowns and some feel like sadism, and the experiment was rapidly out of control (Leithead, 2011).
What is real? How do you define real? Is real being able to physically touch and/or being able to see it? Or do we make something real because we interact with it on a daily basis within our society? The world is revolved around Social Constructionism, every day human beings give meaning to worthless things that otherwise wouldn 't matter if humans didn 't give it meaning through social agreement.
Friedrich Nietzsche was an existentialist philosopher who believed that all our actions are derived from our instinctive desire for power. A myriad of experiments done has proven Nietzsche’s point, but a paragon of these experiments is the Stanford Prison Experiment. The experiment’s objective was to “decipher” the mind of a guard and a prisoner. Results showed that guards started to exploit their own powers to accrue control over others. Although some believe the result of this greed is the adulteration of society, it is thought by many that this want and greed for power is innate.
In Philip Zimbardo the Stanford prison experiment usage of situational variables to observe the changes in behavior exemplify the concept deindividuation. Those selected to participate in the experiment have been assigned specific roles were stripped of their identity and became absorbed by the role. Prisoners were assigned numbers and were treated inhumanly by guard who let the feeling of absolute power influence their actions. I agree with your claim that the guards acted without thinking, I believe they were solely motivated by the sensation of having power over another rather than the promise of monetary gain. If the experiment was more controlled and conducted in today’s modern society the results would have slightly considering minimum
Stanford Experiment: Unethical or Not Stanford Prison Experiment is a popular experiment among social science researchers. In 1973, a psychologist named Dr. Philip Zimbardo wants to find out what are the factors that cause reported brutalities among guards in American prisons. His aim was to know whether those reported brutalities were because of the personalities of the guards or the prison environment. However, during the experiment, things get muddled unexpectedly. The experiment became controversial since it violates some ethical standards while doing the research.
The Stanford Experiment The most controversial psychological experiment is the Stanford Prison Experiment. This experiment was put together by Stanford professor Philip Zimbardo who conducted this experiment in between August 14-28 1971. The experiment was conducted to show the psychological effects of becoming a prisoner or prison guard. Zimbardo studies have proven the psychological effects of today’s prison system on the human brain. This experiment was going to have students play the roles of prisoners and guards for 14 days.
