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Zimbardo And The Stanford Prison Experiment

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The Stanford Prison Experiment, conducted by psychologist Philip Zimbardo in 1971, is one of the most infamous and controversial studies in the history of psychology. This study investigated the psychological effects of perceived power, specifically in the context of a simulated prison environment. However, the experiment quickly spiraled out of control and resulted in ethical concerns that continued to provoke discussions within the field of psychology. One of the primary ethical concerns surrounding the Stanford Prison Experiment is the lack of informed consent, the way participants were treated during the experiment, and how it continued. Participants were recruited for the study as it was advertised as a "psychological experiment" without being fully informed …show more content…

Prisoners were stripped of their identities, forced to wear uniforms, and referred to using assigned numbers rather than their names. This deindividuation (the perceived loss of personal individuality) led to a breakdown of social norms and ethical boundaries, with some participants experiencing severe emotional trauma. Another ethical issue with the Stanford Prison Experiment was the lack of proper oversight and intervention. Zimbardo, in his role as the lead researcher, became so immersed in the role of prison superintendent that he failed to recognize the unethical behavior unfolding within the experiment, even as a psychologist. It was only after a graduate student raised concerns about the treatment of the participants that the experiment was prematurely halted after just six days instead of the planned two weeks. Jimbardo is a member of the AA. This essay critically examines the ethical dimensions of the Stanford Prison Experiment, exploring the aftermath of the experiment, participant mistreatment, and broader implications for research in psychology involving

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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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The Stanford prison experiment is an article that describes an experiment conducted by Zimbardo (1973) aimed at investigating how readily people would conform to the roles given to them in a role-playing exercise in a simulated test. Zimbardo (1973) wanted to determine whether the brutality reported among the inmates in America prisons was because of the sadistic dispositional tendencies of the guards or was caused by the jail environment and situations. Thus, this experiment was directed at examining whether the aggressive and domineering behavior of the guards resulted from the disrespectful nature of the prisoners to law and order (McLeod, 2016). The alternative to this would be that the aggressive and hostile manner of the inmates and guards was due to the social environment and the power structure in these prisons. The hypothesis for the experiment was that,

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