The Stanford Prison Experiment was an experiment that Philip Zimbardo evented. He wanted to study the human response of captivity, of the prison life. Zimbardo randomly assigned roles to the prisoners and the guards. Each role was uniquely identified. For example, he gave the guards sticks and sunglasses and the prisoners were arrested by the police department and were forced into the basement of the jail which was converted into the psychology department that was converted into a makeshift jail. Zimbardo wanted the experiment to be as realistic as he possibly could have made it, therefore, he assigned each role to help do so. Testing each individual and then assigning them to roles would of gave inconclusive readings and therefore, it was…
In discussions of the Stanford Prison Experiment conducted by Philip G. Zimbardo in 1970, one controversial issue has been whether or not the experiment should have ever been attempted. On the one hand, Dr. Zimbardo and his colleagues argued that the experiment gave them a deeper understanding of human suffering and a greater empathy for their fellow man (Ratnesar 2011). On the other hand, one of the former guards contended that the experiment made him more hostile and less sympathetic during his time as a guard and that the circumstances significantly altered his perception of what was appropriate behavior. Others even maintain that the prison experiment degraded the prisoners so greatly, empowered the guards to such a great extent, and even affected Dr. Zimbardo’s behavior and mannerisms so dramatically that it thoroughly altered their sense of…
In 1971, psychologist Phillip Zimbardo set out to create an experiment that looked at the impact of becoming a prisoner or a prison guard. The experiment was to test human behavior when one's role had been altered into authoritative one. Still powerful after all these years the experiment was the most powerful and popular experiment of all time (O'Toole, K). Researches set up a mock prison in the basement of Stanford University building. There were the 24 students out of 70 volunteers chosen to play the roles of the prisoners or prison guards.…
1. Was it ethical to do the prison study in the way that Zimbardo conducted it? Why or why not? Explain your position substantively.…
The Stanford Experiment is a study of experimental psychology conducted by Philip Zimbardo in 1971 on the effects of the prison situation. It was created with students playing the roles of guards and prisoners. It was intended to study the behavior of ordinary people in such a context and effect was to show that this was the situation rather that the personality of the participants who was at the origin of behaviours sometimes opposite the values professed by participants before the start of the study.…
Have you ever noticed that certain people act and behave differently when they are with crowds versus when they are alone? Being in a large crowd can really impact individual to act in a certain way that they seem to fit in with the group and sometimes do things more anonymous as it is in a large crowd. Both Zimbardo and Le Bon believe that bystanders are less responsible and more likely to commit violence than when people are alone. Philip Zimbardo is a psychologist and a professor at Stanford University; he researches the cause of evil in people by doing a Stanford prison experiment. Zimbardo states about how evil can cause good people easily by the peers that they are surrounded by and the culture and traditional way changes can affect people…
One of the infamous experiment in the history of psychology was the Stanford Prison Experiment. Its creator, Dr. Zimbardo, main objective was to see what effects would occur when a psychological experiment into human nature was performed. As I began to perform some research of my own, I noticed that my thoughts on the matter were similar to many; that as a scientific research project, Mr. Zimbardo’s experiment it was a complete failure. However, his findings did provide us with something that was much more important that is still being talked about today; insight into human psychology and social behavior.…
A team at Stanford University, led by Phillip Zimbardo, conducted the Stanford Prison Experiment to investigate causes of conflict between military guards and prisoners. Zimbardo and his team were seeking to observe the inherent personality traits of prisoners and guards and see if this was the chief cause of abusive behavior in these settings (Haney, Banks, and Zimbardo, 1973). This study is one that is well know and well-recognized. Zimbardo and his study are often discussed in many psychology courses today, and have even caused reform in prison systems as well as IRB/APA ethical committees.…
The experiment took place in the basement of the Psychology department in Stanford University and selected 24 undergraduate students out of 70 volunteers due to their lack of psychological issues and had no criminal record. Zimbardo paid each of the 24 participants 15 dollars a day in a span of one to two weeks. The 24 volunteers were randomly assigned to play a role as either a guard or a prisoner. The cell was made up of three prison cells, each one holding three mock prisoners. The guards chosen had to work in an eight hour shift alongside two other participants. The guards chosen have their own cell to themselves and one small room for solitary confinement. Kendra Cherry stated in her article that, “According to Zimbardo and his colleagues, the Stanford Prison Experiment demonstrates the powerful role that the situation can play in human behavior” (Cherry). The volunteers for this experiments took on their role almost instantaneously.…
Known as the Stanford Prison Experiment, the study went on to become one of the best-known in psychology's history. Zimbardo, a former classmate of Stanley Milgram (who is best-known for his famous obedience experiment), was interested in expanding on Milgram's research. "Suppose you had only kids who were normally healthy, psychologically and physically, and they knew they would be going into a prison-like environment and that some of their civil rights would be sacrificed. Would those good people, put in that bad, evil place—would their goodness triumph?" said Zimbardo in one interview. The researchers set up a mock prison in the basement of Stanford University's psychology building. The participants were chosen from a group of 70 volunteers because they had no criminal background, lacked psychological issues, and had no significant medical conditions. The volunteers agreed to participate during a one to two-week period in exchange for $15 a day.…
Afterwards, he observed that some guards were becoming very sadistic; almost enjoying inflicting emotional pain on the prisoners. One prisoner went on a hunger strike, another prisoner became hysterical after 36 hours and had to be terminated, another prisoner escaped saying he would return for the others but never returned. Zimbardo’s girlfriend was brought in to interview participants and found that conditions were subpar. In August 1971, Zimbardo stopped the experiment. He said that out of 50 people who observed the experiment, his girlfriend, a psychologist conducting the interviews was the only one to say anything. Zimbardo’s experiment concluded that because of the situation that the people were in, it created prisoners to act the way they did. The Stanford Prison experiment definitely lacked beneficence. Furthermore, I believe the Stanford Experiment did not seek out signed informed consent. However, in those days, I don’t believe that was a requirement. Another thing is that Zimbardo didn’t debrief his participants until months later. People need to be debriefed when coming out of a research project just like soldiers are debriefed when coming back from…
This study was conducted by Professor Phillip Zimbardo at Stanford University in 1971. Zimbardo wanted to find out if a situation can control the person or can an individual’s beliefs, attitude and values would allow one to rise above their current situation. He wanted to look more in-depth in the behavioral and sociological consequences in the roles of the guard and prisoner. Also, he wanted to find out why and how social situations can overwhelm people. In order to find study subjects, Zimbardo advertised in the paper for healthy, male students and offered $15 a day for up to two weeks. His subjects were predominately white, middle class students with no history of drug use or a criminal record. The basement of Stanford’s psychology department…
Zimbardo wrote the Article over “The Stanford Prison Experiment”. He set up an experiment that would test how subjects conformed to roles they were given. He started the experiment by picking out subjects through the newspaper. Zimbardo got seventy-five males interested in completing the experiment. Then the subjects went…
Investigation: The Stanford prison experiment was originally intended to run for a fortnight. However it lasted only 6 days and was ended earlier than initially planned due to the terrible living conditions and psychological problems that developed as the ‘inmates’ and ‘guards’ interacted.. The experiment was run by Philip Zimbardo, Craig Haney, David Jaffe, and W. Curtis Banks. The test subjects were young male college students that were chosen from 75 volunteers.…
Firstly, while some may say that individual agency prevails in decision-making, Berger refuses optimism and feels that “possibilities do little to change the total efficacy of the system” when in general, “society penetrates the insides of our consciousness”. I agree with Berger that although the “guardians of tradition”, such as my family, friends and teachers, were influential in ensuring that my decisions are aligned to the “established rules”, they in fact need not exert much pressure on me. For instance, after my junior college, my parents told me that I had free choice over what university I wanted to enter, so long as it was reputable enough. Upon reflection, they probably did not need to say that. My years of education in what are deemed…