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Essay on stanford prison experiment
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Thesis for stanford prison experiment
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"Das Experiment" is based on a 1970's experiment called "The Stanford County Prison" experiment. A study done to see if the social structure of a prison affects the behavior of prisoners and guards and the perception of their roles. As the scientists trusted and soon learned to fear, the volunteers immediately fell into their, anticipated, roles. The guards abused their power and the prisoners let free what tugged them into their reality as humans. The study was stopped before the two weeks, however it proved to be too late.
A group of volunteers is divided into guardians and prisoners in a simulated jail. The guards slip into uniforms complete with night sticks, whistles, and handcuffs, while the prisoners strip down to nothing but shirts and trade in their names for numbers. The university basement is turned into a panopticon: the guards are overseeing the prisoners while the scientists are watching everything on video screens. In a fascist reality, surveillance is everywhere: complete control. Both groups are exhorted to follow the rules: the prisoners must obey, and the guards are to maintain peace and order. No matter what, there is to be no violence. Everybody's still cracking jokes, but some men are wearing boots and others flip-flops.... Tarek, the lead in the movie, a taxi driver with a hidden agenda is cell mates with two others. Tarek is not only participating for the money the guinea pigs are to receive for their participation; he is a journalist looking for a story. A story that might give him a break into the company he worked for. He ridicules the guards and inspires a playful prison riot in order to get a good story, this accelerates the effects of the prison immensely.
A subtle choreography of feelings t...
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...ir obnoxious teachers. This sort of thing is seen in many instances just not under the title of experiment. At the end of the movie the underlying plot line between Tarek and the woman he loves is concluded. The point I believe they were trying to make was that man can turn into an empty, emotionless animal but when he has something to hold onto like love he can keep their sanity. The woman beside him on the beach is who kept him alive by keeping alive in his thoughts and memories. Having something powerful to hold onto like love, or a higher power can keep one safe from complete mental destruction. Therefore when under intense stress the man chooses what will prevail the primal instinct of man or the heart which lives within him. But not only that but the movie and the real experiment prove how the influence of roles and cognition can affect someone's mind profusely.
The subjects were all students applying for summer jobs to get some money. To make it a fair test, the subjects were made to take psychological tests to make sure they were mentally fit. On the first day, the prisoner subjects were picked up by a panda car and arrested on a mass crackdown on violations of penal codes. They were arrested like normal suspects are arrested, given their legal rights and searched. They were then taken away in the panda car as many of their neighbours thought that they had actually done something wrong.
On August 14, 1971, the Stanford Prison Experiment had begun. The volunteers who had replied to the ad in the newspaper just weeks before were arrested for the claims of Armed Robbery and Burglary. The volunteers were unaware of the process of the experiment, let alone what they were getting themselves into. They were in shock about what was happening to them. Once taken into the facility, the experimenters had set up as their own private jail system; the twenty-four volunteered individuals were split up into two different groups (Stanford Prison Experiment).
In this study Zimbardo chose 21 participants from a pool of 75, all male college students, screened prior for mental illness, and paid $15 per day. He then gave roles. One being a prisoner and the other being a prison guard, there were 3 guards per 8 hour shift, and 9 total prisoners. Shortly after the prisoners were arrested from their homes they were taken to the local police station, booked, processed, given proper prison attire and issued numbers for identification. Before the study, Zimbardo concocted a prison setting in the basement of a Stanford building. It was as authentic as possible to the barred doors and plain white walls. The guards were also given proper guard attire minus guns. Shortly after starting the experiment the guards and prisoners starting naturally assuming their roles, Zimbardo had intended on the experiment lasting a fortnight. Within 36 hours one prisoner had to be released due to erratic behavior. This may have stemmed from the sadistic nature the guards had adopted rather quickly, dehumanizing the prisoners through verbal, physical, and mental abuse. The prisoners also assumed their own roles rather efficiently as well. They started to rat on the other prisoners, told stories to each other about the guards, and placated the orders from the guards. After deindividuaiton occurred from the prisoners it was not long the experiment completely broke down ethically. Zimbardo, who watched through cameras in an observation type room (warden), had to put an end to the experiment long before then he intended
The prisoners were given prison uniforms and number. The prisoners were subjected to numbers over their names and required to remember their names as ordered by the guards. When they reached the prison, they were blindfolded, stripped naked and forced to wear a dress as humiliation and entertainment
He “wanted to be sure to simulate a real prison experiment.” (Zimbardo, 5th paragraph) This reveals that within the fake prison environment, it created a deindividuation adjacent to the loss of self-awareness of one's self and self-restraint in a definite group, for the guards.
Before commencing the study all participants were briefed on the roles pertaining to the experiment without actually being assigned roles. Once roles were determined and assigned each participant was given specific instruction to their roles whether it be the role of the Guard or Prisoner. The group assigned to the prisoner role were greater in number and were instructed to be available at a predetermined time, this was done to maintain the reality of the simulation. The prisoners were arrested and escorted by real-life law enforcement officials and processed as any detainee would be in a real situation. Upon completing the processing part of the experiment the students were then transferred to the simulated prison, which was housed in the basement of the university, and assigned identifying numbers, given demeaning clothing as uniform and placed in barren cells with no personalized
The day before the experiment, the researchers held and orientating session where they instructed the guards not to physically harm the prisoners but said them to create atmosphere in which the prisoners feel
Subjects became so entranced in these roles that the guards started to behave as if they really were the guards of a true prison. Zimbardo had told them to think of themselves in this way and it led to the guards mentally abusing the prisoners with their cruel and degrading routines. In Romesh Ra...
To begin the experiment the Stanford Psychology department interviewed middle class, white males that were both physically and mentally healthy to pick 18 participants. It was decided who would play guards and who would be prisoners by the flip of a coin making nine guards and nine prisoners. The guards were taken in first to be told of what they could and could not do to the prisoners. The rules were guards weren’t allowed t o physically harm the prisoners and could only keep prisoners in “the hole” for a hour at a time. Given military like uniforms, whistles, and billy clubs the guards looked almost as if they worked in a real prison. As for the prisoners, real police surprised them at their homes and arrested them outside where others could see as if they were really criminals. They were then blindfolded and taken to the mock prison in the basement of a Stanford Psychology building that had been decorated to look like a prison where guards fingerprinted, deloused, and gave prisoners a number which they would be calle...
Scientist tell people they are doing a test on the effects of punishment on learning, but the real
At the expense of the tester’s life and the teacher’s conscience, mankind’s long-term benefits from knowledge gained from the experiment outweighs immediate negative
Again the subjects surroundings and the authority over them affects the way they act and what they’ll do. In his experiment he put flyers out around town to get random subjects. He was offering four dollars and fifty cents for one hours work at the time people needed that kind of money to put food on the table so as he expected he had tons of subjects to choose from. He choose very specific subjects all men in the ages from 20 to 50 with different occupations.When he choose the subjects they didn’t know it would be a test of their obedience to authority even in crazy situations, but of their memory. Two subjects would go in at a time but one was an actor set by the experimenter and the other the actual subject. They were told that one person would be the teacher and the other the learner or student and that this would be selected randomly.But what the subject didn’t know is the actor was already the learner there was no random selection the experimenter just wanted it to seem that way so the teacher subject would truly believe it. After that each of them were strapped to a chair where they received 45 volts of electric shock. Crazy right well listen to this, the so called learner was to be strapped to the chair while the so called teacher would say a phrase and the learner would repeat it back. If he messed up the teacher would shock the learner with 45 volts
Milgram found that the more interaction-physical, visual, or auditory-between the participants (teachers) and the confederates (learners), the less likely they would go all the way through to the highest level of shock (Kokot, 2001). Moreover, when the experimenters left the room, the participants would less likely to obey (Kokot, 2001). This shows that people have the pressure to conform when they have more interaction with the experimenters and less with the confederates.
In 1963s, Stanley Milgram, a Yale professor, conducted an experiment that sparked intense controversy throughout the nation(Milgram 77). Milgram attempted to pinpoint evil in its rawest form: through ordinary people. This was achieved by placing an ordinary person, called the teacher, in a situation in which an instructor pressured the subject, called the teacher, to shock another person, called the learner(Milgram 78). Despite hearing the progressively agonizing screams of the learner, the teacher continued to comply with the directives given by the instructor, thereby selecting obedience over morality(Milgram 80). While this experiment was revered and praised by many scientists and psychologists,
Subjects became so entranced in these roles that the guards started to behave as if they really were the guards of a true prison. Zimbardo had told them to think of themselves in this way and it led to the guards mentally abusing the prisoners with their cruel and degrading ro...