Stanford Prison Experiment Zimbardo
The Stanford Prison Experiment
Psychological studies are relatively new as far as the history of scientific research is concerned. As with anything, the rules for these experiments have evolved and become what they are today only through past circumstances. There are some main experiments in past psychological history, which became a true turning point and reasons for ethical guidelines to be placed. These experiments include the medical atrocities during WWII, the Tuskegee syphilis project, Milgram’s obedience studies, and Zimbardo’s Prison Experiment. Although the participants in Zimbardo’s study were informed of the situation they would have to endure, there was still a significant amount of psychological damage done. To find the article
The mind is a formidable jailer: A Pirandellian prison written by Zimbardo I went to the library at the periodicals desk in the basement. I had originally planned to find a hard copy of the article but the librarians assisted me in finding it online through the libraries database ProQuest instead of PsychINFO. After typing the last name and date of the article it was easy to find. In this article written by Philip G. Zimbardo he explains an experiment he conducted at Stanford University. In the basement of one of the psychology buildings he simulated a mock prison and planned to have the “prisoners” stay for two weeks. Twenty two males who tested as “normal-average” from clinical interviews and personality tests, 10 prisoners and 11 guards were recruited. The prisoners wore smock like dresses without underwear and the guards wore khakis, mirror sunglasses and carried a club, keys and handcuffs. This was all to deindividualize everyone. Each participant quickly fell into the expected “norm” of the role they had been subjected to. The cruelty of the guards towards the prisoners increased exponentially so that many of the prisoners became severely depressed and the anticipated two week experiment ended after six days. Although there are multiple ethical issues with this experiment, the one that I find the most disturbing is that the “prisoners” in this experiment were not allowed to leave unless they showed extreme signs of depression. In current times for an experiment, if an individual wants to leave at any given time during the study they must be allowed to do so. In Zimbardo’s simulated prison study not only could the volunteers not even leave, but they were often denied basic rights like going to the bathroom. Another ethical issue is the intense amount of psychological damage this study inflicted upon the volunteers, guards and prisoners alike. At one point one prisoner who is about to be released exclaims that he has to stay so that the others will not think he was a “bad prisoner.” Although it was all just a study, the individual actually felt as if he were a prisoner and the fact that he was just a regular student seemed to vanish from his mind. The guards as well were put under psychological trauma. In the journals many of them stated that they hated themselves for acting his way towards other humans and degrading them to such low levels. In all I feel as if this study resulted in way predicted, but to a much greater extent. It is highly likely that Zimbardo assumed the guards and prisoners would take on their respective roles, but I do not think he anticipated for it to be so drastic. The mental damage done by this study was truly horrifying for some of the volunteers which is a helping factor to the current ethical standards set in place now.
Psychological studies are relatively new as far as the history of scientific research is concerned. As with anything, the rules for these experiments have evolved and become what they are today only through past circumstances. There are some main experiments in past psychological history, which became a true turning point and reasons for ethical guidelines to be placed. These experiments include the medical atrocities during WWII, the Tuskegee syphilis project, Milgram’s obedience studies, and Zimbardo’s Prison Experiment. Although the participants in Zimbardo’s study were informed of the situation they would have to endure, there was still a significant amount of psychological damage done. To find the article
The mind is a formidable jailer: A Pirandellian prison written by Zimbardo I went to the library at the periodicals desk in the basement. I had originally planned to find a hard copy of the article but the librarians assisted me in finding it online through the libraries database ProQuest instead of PsychINFO. After typing the last name and date of the article it was easy to find. In this article written by Philip G. Zimbardo he explains an experiment he conducted at Stanford University. In the basement of one of the psychology buildings he simulated a mock prison and planned to have the “prisoners” stay for two weeks. Twenty two males who tested as “normal-average” from clinical interviews and personality tests, 10 prisoners and 11 guards were recruited. The prisoners wore smock like dresses without underwear and the guards wore khakis, mirror sunglasses and carried a club, keys and handcuffs. This was all to deindividualize everyone. Each participant quickly fell into the expected “norm” of the role they had been subjected to. The cruelty of the guards towards the prisoners increased exponentially so that many of the prisoners became severely depressed and the anticipated two week experiment ended after six days. Although there are multiple ethical issues with this experiment, the one that I find the most disturbing is that the “prisoners” in this experiment were not allowed to leave unless they showed extreme signs of depression. In current times for an experiment, if an individual wants to leave at any given time during the study they must be allowed to do so. In Zimbardo’s simulated prison study not only could the volunteers not even leave, but they were often denied basic rights like going to the bathroom. Another ethical issue is the intense amount of psychological damage this study inflicted upon the volunteers, guards and prisoners alike. At one point one prisoner who is about to be released exclaims that he has to stay so that the others will not think he was a “bad prisoner.” Although it was all just a study, the individual actually felt as if he were a prisoner and the fact that he was just a regular student seemed to vanish from his mind. The guards as well were put under psychological trauma. In the journals many of them stated that they hated themselves for acting his way towards other humans and degrading them to such low levels. In all I feel as if this study resulted in way predicted, but to a much greater extent. It is highly likely that Zimbardo assumed the guards and prisoners would take on their respective roles, but I do not think he anticipated for it to be so drastic. The mental damage done by this study was truly horrifying for some of the volunteers which is a helping factor to the current ethical standards set in place now.