The Psychological Effects Of The Stanford Prison Experiment

Stanford Prison Experiment was a psychology experiment conducted by students at Stanford University in 1971. The purpose of the experiment was to study the psychological effects of prison life. Candidates were selected on basis of having no psychological problems, medical disabilities or a history of crime or drug abuse. Eventually, twenty-four college students from Canada and America were selected for participation in the study. Participants were paid $15 per day. Boys were divided into two groups by a flip of a coin. Hence, half of them were assigned to be guards and the other half to be prisoners. Prisoners were then taken to the cell and locked up. The experiment started and guards, prisoners and other staff members got in to their roles. To begin with, psychological effects started as the prisoners were stripped, sprayed and shaved to make sure prisoners were bringing in no germs. A uniform was issued to prisoners with an ID number that was their identity for throughout the experiment. Prisoners were expected harassment and humiliation by the guards. Prisoners were punished physically as the confrontations began between the guards and prisoners. At first, prisoners were easier to handle but after day one, prisoners had revolted and guards had to use psychological tactics. Astonishingly, the psychological approach, to separate the prisoners and provide special privileges to a few of them resulted in discovery of a trick for guards to handle the prisoners. This strategy by guards left prisoners being distrustful of each other. Prisoners suffering from emotional disturbance disorganized thinking and rationalized behavior insisted to quit. Further, parents and friend’s visit was also held for offenders that went smoothly as eve...

... middle of paper ...

...been outdated in psychology. Studies like Stanford prison experiments should be conducted more to promote a sense of personal responsibility and liability for every action of a person to make people aware that conditions of dispersed concern disguise their own role in the outcomes of their actions. Further, to distinguish between authority and to whom respect may be suitable and unjust authority as in the Stanford prison life study, to which disrespect and disobedience are necessary to oppose. It is vital to support critical thinking in a child’s life from the very early stages and maintain it throughout life. Asking for evidence to support declaration, demanding that ideologies be adequately elaborated to separate rhetoric from reality-based conclusions and to determine independently whether specific means justify imprecise and destructive ends of the actions.