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A Report on The Stanford Prison Experiment
A Report on The Stanford Prison Experiment
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Stanley Prison Experiment
“The Stanford Prison Experiment was a landmark psychological study of the human response to captivity, in particular, to the real world circumstances of prison life. It was conducted in 1971 by Philip Zimbardo of Stanford University”. The Stanley prison experiment was conducted in 1971 by psychologist Philip's Zimbardo along with some of his fellow graduate students. The experiment was supposed to be based on obedience, he wanted to expand Stanley Milgram's research, also created a similar study that was based on obedience. Zimbardo selected up to 24 undergraduate students, 12 were prisoners and 12 were guards, they were supposed to play these roles up to two weeks in exchange for $15. According to
This experiment
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Such action might include referral to state or national committees on professional ethics, to state licensing boards or to the appropriate institutional authorities. This standard does not apply when an intervention would violate confidentiality rights or when psychologists have been retained to review the work of another psychologist whose professional conduct is in question.” This experiment shows that sometimes people fall into the role society has for them. Zimbardo received an excessive amount of criticism from this experiment because it was seen as an unethical according to (Zimbardo, 2008) “Zimbardo was strongly criticized for his role in the experiment and his lack of objectivity by making himself "superintendent" of the mock prison. This study was conducted at a time when APA ethical codes were far less restrictive than they are now, so Zimbardo did not receive any disciplinary action. In addition, the nature of the experiment made it difficult to have controls in place putting the scientific integrity of the findings in question” (Zimbardo,
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 Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Study, Zimbardo was interested in finding out how voluntarily people would conform to the roles of guard and prisoner in a stimulated role-playing experiment. Participants were picked to be either a prisoner or a guard and were placed in a prison environment for six days before Zimbardo had to shut the experiment down (Cherry, 2014). For the IRB ethical guideline respect of persons, each participant was given an informed consent about the study. Participants also had a preliminary interview in which participants with anxiety issues were told not to participate due to effects of the study. However, consent could not be fully informed because even Zimbardo himself did not know what was going to happen in the study (McLeod, 2008). Participants in this study also had the right to withdraw although they felt like they could not because they were being conformed to a prison environment. Confidentiality was also included in the study because participants had to complete a release form for their video footage to be used. Participants were also given an ID number during the experiment, therefore, remaining anonymous not only to other members of the study, but also anyone who watched the footage (McLeod, 2008).
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
Phillip Zimbardo conducted the Stanford experiment where 24 physiologically and physically healthy males were randomly selected where half would be prisoners and the other half prisoner guards. To make the experiments as real as possible, they had the prisoner participants arrested at their homes. The experiment took place in the basement of the Stanford University into a temporary made prison.
The Stanford Prison Experiment commenced in 1973 in pursuit of Zimbardo needed to study how if a person are given a certain role, will they change their whole personality in order to fit into that specific role that they were given to. Zambrano significantly believed that personality change was due to either dispositional, things that affect personal life and make them act differently. Or situational, when surrounded by prisoners, they can have the authority to do whatever they want without having to worry about the consequences. Furthermore, it created a group of twenty-four male participants, provided them their own social role. Twelve of them being a prisoners and the other twelve prison guards, all of which were in an examination to see if they will be able to handle the stress that can be caused based upon the experiment, as well as being analysis if their personality change due to the environment or their personal problems.
The study was based in a mock prison, and the main purpose of the study was to see if the participants would conform to their assigned roles (Haslam, 2014). As the experiment went on the participants reacted to their roles in predict, and unpredicted ways. The “prison guards” began to believe they were indeed in that role, and would become physical with the “prisoners”. The mental being of the prisoner participant’s began to diminish, and the experiment was then forced to finish before completion. This experiment shows how quickly the behaviors conformed to their roles, and caused the experiment to become unethical due to the fact the participants were than facing physical and mental harm as a result. Again we see here, the Stanford students conforming to an authoritarian role, and not following their own personal morals almost as if they were brainwashed into their new
I choose to examine the Stanford Prison Study. This experiment was conducted by a famous psychologist named Philip Zimbardo. This study focused on testing if and how quickly individuals would conform to social roles they were assigned. The experiment took place on the bottom floor of the psychology building at Stanford University which was transformed into a mock prison. In order to achieve the appearance of a real prison, the cells included bare walls, limited space, and bared doors and windows. He then selected 21 males from 75 volunteers and appointed them as either a prisoner or a guard.
The Stanford Prison Experiment was conducted in 1971 by Philip Zimbardo of Stanford University. The purpose of the experiment was a landmark study of the human response to captivity, in particular, to the real world circumstances of prison life. In social psychology, this idea is known as “mundane realism”. Mundane realism refers to the ability to mirror the real world as much as possible, which is just what this study did. Twenty-four subjects were randomly assigned to play the role of "prisoner" or "guard" and they were made to conform to these roles.
The Stanford Prison Experiment was conducted in 1971 by Philip Zimbardo of Stanford University. The experiment was a landmark study of the human response to captivity, in particular, to the real world circumstances of prison life. In social psychology, this idea is known as “mundane realism”. Mundane realism refers to the ability to mirror the real world as much as possible, which is just what this study did. Twenty-four subjects were randomly assigned to play the role of "prisoner" or "guard" and they were made to conform to these roles.
After only six days the Stanford Prison Experiment was stopped, after they originally planned it to last for two weeks. This was not because Zimbardo thought it should be, of the guards out of line behavior, or because outsiders thought so. The experiment finally stopped because of a graduate student was helping Zimbardo told him that it was out of control. I am very surprised from the results of the experiment. The power of situations was shown to be much more powerful than I ever would have thought. Because of the way the prisoners were treated, I do not think there will ever be another experiment like this ever again, even though a lot of valuable information was attained for conducting it.
Would you go into prison to get paid? Do you believe that you will come out the same or become different? Do not answer that. The Stanford Prison Experiment was an experiment that was conduct in 1971 by a team of researchers led by psychology professor Philip Zimbardo. Seventy applicants answered the ad and were narrowed down to 24 college students, which half were assigned either to be guards or prisoners by random selection. Those 24 college students were picked out from the of 70 applicants by taking personality tests and given diagnostic interviews to remove any candidates with psychological problems, medical disabilities, or a history of crime or drug abuse. The experiment lasted six days but it was supposed to last two weeks, it was so traumatizing that it was cut short. Zimbardo was the lead researcher and also had a role in pretend prison. Zimbardo’s experiment was based on looking
Yale psychologist Philip Zimbardo in 1971 decided to take these experiments one step further, to put a normal person into a position of power to see how they would treat another human. In 1973 Zimbardo created the Yale Prison experiment which in present day would be referenced in major prison cases in the United States. To study the roles in prison life Zimbardo converted the basement of Stanford into a prison.
Without the proper guidance given for experiment, participants were exposed to possible emotional and mental harm. Experiment was terminated with ethical objections when prisoners began to experience mental stress. What Zimbardo did was an ethical research. A few prisoners had to be removed early due to traumatized effects. Some might argue that this experiment was more of a hostage take over situation than official prison guards and prisoners relationship. Volunteer prisoners suffered with humiliated, and damaged mental stress even after the study ended. However, Zimbardo followed up with all the participants to make sure they have no lasting
The Stanford Prison Experiment took place in 1971. Young male students were divided into the roles of Prisoner and Guard and put in a prison-like environment beneath the Psychology Department at Stanford University (lab conditions). The study was meant to last a fortnight. But the ruthless conduct of the prison Guards and the suffering of the Prisoners was so to much that it had to be terminated after six
This experiment was supposed to last for two weeks but ended abruptly after six days. "The first day they came there it was a little prison set up in a basement with fake cell doors and by the second day it was a real prison created in the minds of each prisoner, each guard and also of the staff," said Philip Zimbardo, the psychologist leading the experiment. Retrieved from BBC http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-14564182