...Many studies and experiments of the past still face scrutiny by researchers, scientists and many other people in all different fields today. Many of them have been criticized due to their unethical treatment of their subjects. Because of this, the psychological community has established a special group of people and guidelines called the Institutional Review Board that analyzes whether or not a study is ethical before it is even allowed to proceed. This board was established in 1974, three years after a study known as the Stanford Prison Experiment was conducted. The Stanford Prison Experiment began in 1971 when a psychologist named Philip Zimbardo came up with a question; he wanted to know if the brutality reported among guards in American...
Words: 1027 - Pages: 5
...I chose to write about the ethics of the Stanford Prison Experiment led by psychologist Philip Zimbardo. I think a number of factors in this study would not pass current ethical standards set by the American Psychological Association (APA). The first is I believe that even though all of the participants of the study were given informed consent before the start of the experiment, I don’t believe that the subjects were aware of the physical and mental humiliation that they would have to endure during its course. At the very start, the subjects were taken from in front of their homes in front of neighbors by armed police officers. They were then taken to the prison blindfolded and made to strip down naked in a degrading manner in order to purposely humiliate them. They shaved their heads in order to take away any of the prisoners personal identity. I think there was also great deception on behalf of the researchers when the participants’ families came to visit them. The guards cleaned the cells, clean shaved the prisoners, fed them a large meal and played music over the loud speakers to make the visitor blind of the real situation. This manipulation shows that Dr. Zimbardo knew that the physical conditions of the prison were unsanitary and could have posed a health risk, and that the treatment of the prisoners was in fact un-ethical. According to this website http://www.simplypsychology.org/zimbardo.html Zimbardo claimed that he could have not predicted that any of these things could...
Words: 287 - Pages: 2
...The Stanford Prison Experiment California State University, Long Beach The Stanford Prison Experiment The Stanford Prison Experiment is a very thought-provoking topic discussed in various classes. Professor and psychologist Philip Zimbardo conducted this experiment through Stanford University. Twenty-four men were randomly selected to participate in a simulated prison environment and were given roles as prisoners or prison guards. This was done to challenge the moral compass of “good” individuals in a negative environment, which in this case was a prison. Surprisingly, the participants truly embodied their roles. Throughout the experiment, the prison guards enforced their authoritarian power and tormented the prisoners both mentally and physically. Despite being the conductor of the experiment, Zimbardo also played a role as the superintendent of the prison. The Stanford Prison Experiment was significant due to its controversial nature and continued discussion in the classroom. The experiment itself was a form of field research. According to Kendall (2014), field research develops “a fuller understanding… through observations, face-to-face discussions, and participation in events.” Ultimately, a field study is an experiment that takes place outside the laboratory. It incorporates observation and interviews of individuals in a more “natural” setting in order to gather qualitative data. The Stanford Prison experiment consisted of all of these characteristics. Additionally...
Words: 905 - Pages: 4
...Intro: Most people believe that they are good people at heart, and that they will always do the best or right thing, to the best of their abilities. It turns out that this isn’t necessarily true. 1) Background a) The experiment was conducted in 1971, by a group of social psychologists. The head researcher was Phillip Zimbardo. b) It was meant to determine the psychological effects of becoming a prisoner or prison guard. c) The researchers chose all college kids to fit the roles. d) The researchers turned the basement of the Stanford psychology department into a mock prison 2) Beginning of Experiment a) The “prisoners” were all actually arrested and taken down to a local police station to be booked, finger printed, and processed. They all were also deloused. i) All of the prisoners personal belongings were confiscated and they were only allowed to wear a simple smock. ii) The effect of this was to dehumanize the prisoners. b) The guards all wore a khaki uniform, reflective sunglasses, and carried a police baton i) The guards were given no instructions other than defend the prison and keep the prisoners in line. ii) The guards were told to think for themselves and act as real prison guards, but to not physically harm the prisoners. 3) During the Experiment a) The prisoners and guards all quickly fell into their respective roles. i) The guards started becoming brutal and sadistic towards the prisoners. (1) The guards insulted the prisoners and forced them to do menial...
Words: 559 - Pages: 3
...Most people believe and have heard that they are a product of their own environment, but what happens when you take those people out of their environment? The Stanford Prison Experiment of 1971 set out to explain what happens when you put people in an evil place. The six day experiment transformed modern college students into prison guards and prisoners in a mock prison. The study found that when you put people into a new environment they can quickly internalize new roles and forget their old roles. “Although people experience a great deal of socialization in role playing and role taking during childhood, this social guidance continues also in later life. Individuals learn new roles and abandon old ones as they pass through their life cycles and encounter new situations (Clinard and Meier, 2011). 24 male students were selected to participate and were randomly assigned roles of prison guards and prisoners. None of the participants had prior experience in their new role. Guards were required to wear uniforms and one way shades to hide emotion. Prisoners fad to wear dresses, stocking caps, and chains on their right foot. Only a day went by before the guards and the prisoners fell into authoritarian and submissive roles, respectively after a prisoner rebellion took place. “Social behavior develops not only through responses to the expectations of others, which force one to confront their norms, but also through social interactions, which lead one to anticipate others’ responses...
Words: 543 - Pages: 3
...Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment PSYCH/620 May 31, 2015 Dr. Al Clark Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment Dr. Phillip Zimbardo of Stanford University led a team of researchers to conduct a social experiment on the effects of imposed social roles in the penal system. Internal dispositions changed to adapt to the confinement of the prison. The behavior observed of the participants was morally repugnant and apprehensible in response to role of authority. Participants assigned to a prisoner role broke down in response to captivity. The study focused on behavioral attributes that attributed sadistic behavior to the prison environment opposed to an innate tendency towards a cruel personality (Zimbardo, 2007). The impact of Dr. Zimbardo’s study on social psychology Dr. Zimbardo’s classic psychological study relating to the psychological effects of the prisoner and prison guard relationship was momentous to social psychology. The study was influential to social psychology in the way that we were able to understand the circumstances that enable a normal, caring individual to carryout sadistic acts. Zimbardo’s prison experiment was a prison simulation based on Milgram’s research on obedience to authority. The study confirmed notions on how situations could completely corrupt human behavior (Stanley, 2006). Relevance of the Study in Relation to Contemporary World Issues The experiment influenced...
Words: 674 - Pages: 3
...How much control do we have over our own circumstances // fate vs. freewill The first case study is The Stanford Prison Experiment. Why doesn’t Philip Zimbardo stop the experiment after the guards violated an important rule? Philip Zimbardo doesn’t stop the experiment because he wanted to see the full effect the experiment would have to the participants. He also wanted to see how the guards and prisoners would handle the problem themselves. The experiment escalated with further problems happening, causing the experiment to end so shortly. Because of these problems it caused far more damage to the participants and everyone involved. Making the guards and prisoners, who were determined healthy and mentally stable, change into “pure evil” as Christina...
Words: 329 - Pages: 2
...psychology experiment that was done by Philip Zimbardo; the experiment was called The Stanford Prison Experiment. The goal of Philip’s experiment was to look at the impact of becoming a prisoner or prison guard. “The Stanford Prison Experiment, one of the most controversial studies in the history of social psychology (Konnikova, 2015).” Philip and his colleagues set up a simulated prison in the basement of Stanford University's psychology building. They then looked over a list of 70 volunteers to screen for ones that were best fit for the experiment. Out of the 70 volunteers, 24 were picked; the screening picked those 24 “because they had no criminal background, lacked psychological issues,...
Words: 423 - Pages: 2
...The Stanford Prison Experiment was created to replicate what a prison was like. They took the basement of their psychology building to create a prison setting. The experiment was suppose to last about two weeks, but the experiment was cut short because of how the prisoners and guards felt mentally. The goal of the experiment was to study the behavioral and psychological consequences of becoming a prisoner or guard. There was applications for men to apply to be in this simulation. Over 70 people applied to make $15 a day for two weeks. The guards met before the process to discuss what is going on and what is expected of them. After everyone was ready, the experiment could finally get started. The first step in the experiment was to get the...
Words: 724 - Pages: 3
...that this was an experiment, so they were very confused. The suspect was then put in the rear of a police car, carried off to the police station with sirens wailing. The car arrived at the station, the suspect was brought inside, formally booked, warned of his Miranda rights, finger-printed, and a complete identification was made. b. The effects of living in this type of environment are getting the suspects to ponder their fate and having them think about what they have done to get into this mess. This has also resulted in some time-distorting experiences. c. These transformations would be leaving your dignity at the door. They feel like they are not an individual anymore, since they look and feel the same; they have lost their freedom to be themselves. It helps them to survive later on in life, and do what they are best at to make money. d. They were required to follow orders from their superiors; the superiors were the bad guards. The good guards did not want to be punished or put down by the bad guards. e. I would not be able to endure that experience, even if it was real. I would not be able to take the guard’s orders like the majority of the prisoners did. I would not be able to take it for a day, let alone 5 years. f. They tried to work with it, because they were not in their right mind that they could change it from the outside. g. This abuse was similar because the U.S. soldiers had the same job as the guards from the experiment. Because the prisoners...
Words: 378 - Pages: 2
...THE STANFORD PRISON EXPERIMENT - essay To begin with, the Stanford prison experiment was an attempt to investigate the psychological effects of percieved power. The aim was to investigate how readily people would conform the roles of guards and prisoners in a role-playing experiment that simulated the situation in prison. The experiment was carried out by a well-known and acclaimed psychologist Philip Zimbardo in 1971, this is the most known experiment he did. Even though the experiment itself is a big asset to behavioral psychology it is rejected by most of the people even after so many years. In the following lines, I’d like to describe to you how the experiment was getting on and show you my personal opinion on this matter. At the beginning of the experiment professor Philip Zimbardo and his team were choosing candidates that would be most suitable and then divided them into two groups — prisoners and guards based on their psychological profile. Participants were students who got paid $15 a day during 14 days long experiment. The students that were picked to be part of this experiment were formally arrested because Zimbardo wanted the experiment to be as real as possible. The students...
Words: 648 - Pages: 3
...The Stanford Prison experiment was a psychological experiment that took place in 1971 at Stanford University and was conducted by Philip Zimbardo a psychology professor who believed that prisons were violent places because of the nature of the roles guards and prisoners were expected to play and the rules and expectations attached to these roles. Zimbardo argues that no matter who was placed in such a position they would act in the same manner, based on their expected and perceived roles. Zimbardo attempted to prove his hypothesis by putting law-abiding middle class male students in the position of prisoners and guards. Twenty four male volunteers were chosen and randomly divided into two groups, 12 guards and 12 prisoners. Uniforms were issued to each group, very few rules were given except that the guards were permitted to do whatever they felt necessary to keep order...
Words: 756 - Pages: 4
...they would be a fair and cunning leader. Unfortunately, domination is just too much too handle and almost always takes people too far. This is clearly demonstrated in stories such as The Stanford Prison Experiment and William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. The Stanford Prison Experiment is a film about a group of scientists and psychologists who gather up young college boys and place them in a simulated prison, several boys acting as the guards and the rest acting as prisoners. Almost immediately after the experiment began, the guards turned extremely manipulative and violent because they think they can abuse their power and get away with it. It is not just the...
Words: 411 - Pages: 2
...The results of the experiment have been argued to demonstrate the impressionability and obedience of people when provided with a legitimising ideology and social and institutional support. The experiment has also been used to illustrate cognitive dissonance theory and the power of authority. The results of the experiment favour situational attribution of behaviour rather than dispositional attribution. In other words, it seemed that the situation, rather than their individual personalities, caused the participants' behaviour. Under this interpretation, the results is that, ordinary people fulfilled orders to administer what appeared to be agonising and dangerous electric shocks to a confederate of the experiment. Power tactics are ways in which the individuals translate power bases into specific actions. In the experiment, people are using legitimacy, it is relying on your authority position or saying that a request accords with organisational policies or rules. In the experiment, Zimbardo said that people's behaviour changed under the environment of power and authority, the prisoners at first might not perfectly obey to what they were asked to do, however they started to obey what the guards say when the experiment went on, even though all participants know that they are not in a real prison situation. But the environment is too real that people started to think they are in a real prison, no matter it's the prisoners, or the guards. They follow the theory of power...
Words: 255 - Pages: 2
...“I learned that people can easily forget that others are humans.” This was said by Philip Zimbardo, the psychologist who conducted the Stanford Prison Experiment. The Stanford Prison Experiment was a simulation that showed what is our first human nature instinct, this was shown through guards and prisoners. The outcome was very clear to see how humans act behind a disguise. Or how sexual abuse is used as punishment. In William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, a group of boys crashes on an island and figured out a way to keep civilization present, but somewhere in the middle civilization crashed and the young boys succumbed to their savage instincts. Both LOTF and the SPE reveal that in certain circumstances removed from regular civilization,...
Words: 390 - Pages: 2
