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Stanford prison experiment opinion
Stanford prison experiment opinion
Stanford prison experiment opinion
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In summary, the purpose of the Stanford Prison Experiment was supposed to demonstrate that powerful situational forces, much like Abu Ghraib, could over-ride individual dispositions and choices, leading good people to do bad things simply because of the role they found themselves
The actions that took place in that experiment were recorded in Zimbardo’s “The Stanford Prison Experiment.” The men who participated in the experiment also found themselves losing track of time. Zimbardo describes prisons as “machines for playing tricks with the human conception of time. In [their] windowless prison, the prisoners often did not even know whether it was day or night” (p. 109).
Zimbardo states that in less than 5 days they had to end the experiment because the
When those who were classified as the prisoners were arrested it was done unexpectedly to help put them into the mindset psychologists were looking for during the experiment. Off the bat, the people were left clueless and fearful as to what was happening to them. The prisoners were
With the guards becoming crueler, it pushed the prisoners to pursue the role as a real-life prisoner. The prisoners began to feel humiliated by the guards and mentally harassed. One became so depressed that he had so much rage with uncontrollable crying, he was set free from the experiment (627). The guards would taunt the prisoners by singling them out because they would beg for it and they simply did not see eye to eye. As the hours passed, new emotions were being found within the prisoners and guards as this experiment was being conducted.
The guards were instructed to maintain order anyway they wanted without using physical violence. Zimbardo wanted the guards to seem intimidating while the prisoners were made to look inferior and were to be referred to with their ID number only. After the prisoners were assigned their roles and the guards took their post was the effect of the experiment finally setting in. On the morning of the second day the prisoners began to rebel against the guards by ripping off their ID numbers and barring the doors while taunting the guards. This event was the first step down the slippery slope that would follow.
He continues with observations of the first day of testing by quoting certain guard’s conversations with each other and prisoners. Proceeding, Zimbardo points out a riot initiated by the prisoners that was quickly snuffed out by the guards. He also emphasizes the point, “We were forced to release prisoner 8612 because of extreme depression…” Following the quote Zimbardo describes diary entries by one guard which explain a dramatic shift in mood in the guards. Zimbardo finishes his article with reasoning behind early termination of the experiment and expressed his regret of running the experiment.
In the six days that the experiment ran they saw the personalities that the prisoner and prison guards took.
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
They were too afraid of the consequences of what would happen if they failed to obey orders. (Browning 315). The Stanford Prison Experiment was a study of the psychological effects of becoming a prisoner or prison guard. The experiment was supposed to last two weeks but ended up only lasting six days because of the way that people abused their power and did not do the morally right thing. In the Stanford prison experiment, the guards were too afraid to go against the guard that was taking charge because he put himself as this role of a higher authority.
During the Stanford prison experiment the actual boys who agreed to do the experiment had no idea what it was, they thought it would be a fun idea to help out with an experiment. The only reason why the experiment stopped after only a week was because a women who was one of the people behind it saw the prisoners walking to the bathroom and they had bags on their heads and they were in single file and she got upset. She was upset because they lost the purpose of the experiment and actually turned these boys into
The main aims of the Stanford Prison Experiment were to study the roles that people play in a prison environment and to determine what psychological effects the role of prisoner and guard had on the young students. The study was carried out in a simulated prison in which researchers, led by Philip Zimbardo, observed and recorded the effects of the institution on the students. Zimbardo wanted to find out whether the atrocity reported among guards in American prisons was due to the deranged personalities of the guards or due to the prison environment.(McLeod, 2008) The prison setting in a basement of Stanford University was developed with the guidance of a consultant, it had solitary confinement, no clocks and secret recording operations. Once the prison setting was constructed the experiment was ready to be conducted.
The experiment was executed well. Yet, there are unethical practices happened during the experiment. First, the participants were not fully informed about the experiment. The researchers did not explain to the participants the processes in conducting the experiment. The participants were not informed that they would be arrested by cops in their homes.
As stated in the name of the actual experiment, it was a simulation of how it was like to be imprisoned. The participants were 24 college students. The
The experiment mainly focused on the participants appearance, for example prisoners were dressed into prison clothes for feeling more demeaned and humiliated, however at the same time guards were dressed into like real guards with sunglasses for appearing more detached and less humane. The results were terrifying because the guards took the matter seriously and sometimes harassed the prisoners with the help pf physical punishment, or even