P R E S E N T E D B Y:
J O N AT H A N, V I N E E T H , J A K E , R O H I T
The Purpose?
Psychological effects of becoming a prisoner
or a prison guard
How would being placed in a position of power or weakness affect one’s actions and mental state?
Who Was In Charge?
A team of researchers led by Professor Phillip
Zimbardo conducted the experiment at
Stanford University on students
Subjects Involved
24 male students were prison guards and
prisoners in a mock prison
Located in the basement of the Stanford psychology building
Observations
Many of the prisoners passively accepted
mental abuse
Guards turned prisoners against anyone who tried to be “the hero”
There was no physical abuse, but there was severe physiological abuse and sexual abuse
Two prisoners quit the experiment early
Certain portions were filmed before the experiment was abruptly stopped - six days after it began
Results
The experiment was a success
Zimbardo was able to prove that bad systems
or situations can even make moral people become agitated, chaotic, cruel, and abusive.
This experiment questions the setup of our justice system
YouTube Link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
PcEPFMEtLIo
Guidelines
The study was approved by the Stanford Human Subjects Review
Committee, the Stanford Psychology Department, and the Group
Effectiveness Branch of the Office of Naval Research.
The experiment violated a few medical research guidelines
according to the Declaration of Helsinki
“The primary purpose of medical research involving human
subjects is to understand the causes, development and effects of diseases and improve preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic interventions (methods, procedures and treatments). Even the best proven interventions must be evaluated continually through research for their safety, effectiveness, efficiency, accessibility and quality.” Our View
This was not the case for this experiment
We found the experiment to be