Summary Of The Stanford Prison Experiment

Part B: Report
The Stanford Prison experiment was conducted to study the psychological effects of becoming a prisoner or a prison guard. It raised many speculations over the violation of basic ethical principles during the study. The study was shut down after six days rather than the two weeks planned, because of it’s impressive outcome.
The experiment was unethical because the subjects were physically and emotionally harmed. The participants that played the role of the guards in the prison, took advantage of their power over the prisoners. The role of the ‘guard’ was played in a sadistic manner, humiliating and degrading ‘prisoners’ by insulting them and giving out harsh and often pointless orders (they were deprived of sleep, stripped naked, make clean toilets with only bare hands, participate in insulting other prisoners, etc.). This violated the ethical principle that ensures that all participants’ rights, worth and dignity are respected. The guards made it their duty to dehumanize and humiliate prisoners just because they were in a position that gave them that power. In fact, the inhumane actions of the prison guards, also violate the ethical principle that states and guarantees that no participants are harmed and are protected from harm.
Most of the participants did not think much of the future problems that would arise after the study, and only saw it as a simple summer job. Meaning they did not truly understand what they were participating in, the lack of informed consent was an issue in this study. The individuals were not informed of any negative or unknown consequences of the activity. Most left with trauma, severe emotional reactions and psychological harm. The debriefing process was provided years after the study was conducted and could not properly help the students for details of the research were