The Zimbardo Experiment

We all play many and important roles in our daily life, a mother, father, sister, wife, friend etc. Each of these roles we play has duties we may or may not be aware of. Balancing these duties are very important to many of us, but sometimes trying to balance our responsibilities can sometimes lead to dysfunction in an individual’s life. In order for a person to live a happy and healthy life, one must fulfill his or her role. The role theory is a “set of norms that define how people should behave” (Myers, 2008). In other words, the role position we play (Mother, father, or a teacher) in society influences the way we behavior and treat each other. Moreover, “statuses such as gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and social class also shape roles” (Lopata, 1991). For example, men are expected to be breadwinners of the household and mothers main focus is to take care of the kids. Over the past decades, psychologists have conducted experiments on how the roles we play to influence the way we behavior daily.
Philip Zimbardo was one of the famous psychologists that studied human behaviors, social roles and how they are affected by certain situations. His experiment draws many attentions as to what we will do to fulfill these roles in today’s society. “Zimbardo has impacted the study of psychology to this day by how the prison experiment was set up, what happened during the experimented, what other research he has done throughout his lifetime” (McLeod, 2014).
About Zimbardo Stanford Corrections Experiment
In 1971 the Zimbardo Stanford Corrections Experiment was conducted by Philip G.
Zimbardo. Zimbardo experiment was one of the most interesting experiments conducted and it was well known that a movie was released in 2009 based on this study. In his Stanford Corrections Experiment Zimbardo goals was to show the psychological effects of prison on people. Also, how prison guards and offenders' behaviors can change through the roles they play. In addition, Zimbardo wanted to find out “what happened when all of the individuality and dignity was stripped away from a human, and their life was completely controlled”(Essay,UK.2013). The participants were twenty-four male students chose randomly to either play of a prison guard or prisoners inside a mock prison built in the Stanford Psychology Department and was offered fifteen dollars per day for taking part in the study. The students were divided into two groups randomly of twelve guards and twelve
prisoners.
The outcome of the experiment
Because of the unpleasant treatments, the prisoners was receiving at the hands of the guards “On the second day of the experiment, the prisoners organized a mass revolt and riot, as a protest about the conditions. Guards worked extra hours and devised a strategy to break up and put down the riot, using fire-extinguishers. No prompt for this action was given by Zimbardo; the guards used their own initiative to formulate the plan”(family.jrank.org). The experiment got out of control because many people started abusing their position.
Why this type of experiment is no longer allowed
This type of experiment is no longer allowed because it placed the students in dangerous situations. In addition, it was unethical because the prisoners experienced unpleasant punishments at the hands of the guards in control. For instance, prisoners were forced to sleep on the hard, cold floor because mistresses were taken away from them by the guards. Also, bathroom breaks were denied and some were sexually shamed. Many of the prisoners, later on, show signs of emotional and mental distress. The experiment didn’t have any guidelines and was not carefully control by Zimbardo.
In conclusion,