Revisiting the Stanford Prison Experiment: a Lesson in the Power of Situation Critique
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Running head: ARTICLE CRITIQUE
Article Critique Revisiting the Stanford Prison Experiment: a Lesson in the Power of Situation January 17, 2012
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This is a critique of an article published in Chronicle of Higher Education, (v53 n30 pB6 Mar. 30, 2007) on "Revisiting the Stanford Prison Experiment: a Lesson in the Power of Situation" by Philip G. Zimbardo. This article discusses issues related to how good people can turn bad.
SUMMARY
In this article, Zimbardo looks at his previous social experiment on physical abuse in prison and discusses the issues related to the psychological effects of becoming a prisoner or prison guard, the social power of groups, and how people would behave if they were brought into direct confrontation; whether it would turn good people bad. The author discusses his past social experiment on physical abuse in prison that was conducted in the basement of the Stanford Psychology department.
PROBLEM SPECIFIED IN THE ARTICLE
One of many of studies in psychology, the Stanford Prison Experiment reveals from its usual set point, the extent to which human behavior can be transformed and are readily accepting a dehumanized conception of others. "Even to readily accepting a dehumanized conception of others, as 'animals, ' and to accepting spurious rationales for why pain will be good for them," (Zimbardo, 2007, p. 4). The Stanford Prison Experiment is compared to the Abu Ghraib situation, and also discussed are the implications of this research to the criminal justice system. The problems specified in the article addresses the social power of groups and as to whether a person could be influenced to exert power over someone else. The experiment called for twenty-four student participants to act as either a prisoner or a guard in the "prison" basement," (Zimbardo, 2007, para 5). After the first day, the guards exercised their powers with increasing authority, forcing the prisoners to do things like making them say
Running head: ARTICLE CRITIQUE
Article Critique Revisiting the Stanford Prison Experiment: a Lesson in the Power of Situation January 17, 2012
�
This is a critique of an article published in Chronicle of Higher Education, (v53 n30 pB6 Mar. 30, 2007) on "Revisiting the Stanford Prison Experiment: a Lesson in the Power of Situation" by Philip G. Zimbardo. This article discusses issues related to how good people can turn bad.
SUMMARY
In this article, Zimbardo looks at his previous social experiment on physical abuse in prison and discusses the issues related to the psychological effects of becoming a prisoner or prison guard, the social power of groups, and how people would behave if they were brought into direct confrontation; whether it would turn good people bad. The author discusses his past social experiment on physical abuse in prison that was conducted in the basement of the Stanford Psychology department.
PROBLEM SPECIFIED IN THE ARTICLE
One of many of studies in psychology, the Stanford Prison Experiment reveals from its usual set point, the extent to which human behavior can be transformed and are readily accepting a dehumanized conception of others. "Even to readily accepting a dehumanized conception of others, as 'animals, ' and to accepting spurious rationales for why pain will be good for them," (Zimbardo, 2007, p. 4). The Stanford Prison Experiment is compared to the Abu Ghraib situation, and also discussed are the implications of this research to the criminal justice system. The problems specified in the article addresses the social power of groups and as to whether a person could be influenced to exert power over someone else. The experiment called for twenty-four student participants to act as either a prisoner or a guard in the "prison" basement," (Zimbardo, 2007, para 5). After the first day, the guards exercised their powers with increasing authority, forcing the prisoners to do things like making them say
References: Zimbardo, P. G. (2007). Revisiting the Stanford Prison Experiment: a Lesson in the Power of Situation. _The Chronicle of Higher Education_, 53(30). Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA161992127&v=2.1&u=oran95108&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w.