Stanford Experiment: Unethical or Not Stanford Prison Experiment is a popular experiment among social science researchers. In 1973, a psychologist named Dr. Philip Zimbardo wants to find out what are the factors that cause reported brutalities among guards in American prisons. His aim was to know whether those reported brutalities were because of the personalities of the guards or the prison environment. However, during the experiment, things get muddled unexpectedly. The experiment became controversial since it violates some ethical standards while doing the research. In the movie, there are 24 students chosen to participate in the experiment. The researchers conducted series of interviews to eliminate applicants that have psychological …show more content…
They were stripped naked and had all their personal possessions removed. They were only given a prison dress and has a chain on their right foot. On the other hand, the guards wore identical khakis. They were instructed to do whatever they thought is right to maintain law and order in the prison. But they are not given a permission to abuse the prisoners physically. The experiment was executed well. Yet, there are unethical practices happened during the experiment. First, the participants were not fully informed about the experiment. The researchers did not explain to the participants the processes in conducting the experiment. The participants were not informed that they would be arrested by cops in their homes. Another unethical practice was the breach of a contract signed between the participants and the researchers. It was unethical because the participants were taken their rights to object from the harassment of the guards. Zimbardo acted as a prison warden instead of reminding the guards that they should not abuse the …show more content…
It is because Zimbardo instructed the guards to clean and polish the prisoner’s cell when their parents visited. It was an unethical practice because they hid the real setting of the prison. They were afraid that the parents might insist on taking their son’s home if they would know the state of the jail. Although Zimbardo defended that the emotional distress experienced by the prisoners was unpredictable, it is still an unethical practice because he conducted it without realizing that there is a possible risk it may bring to the participants. He is a selfish psychologist who just wanted to get a result. He did not realize that he is starting to act like a prison superintendent than a researcher. He only realizes it when Christina Maslach, objected the experiment after she saw that the prisoners were being harassed by the guards. Even if the study has received a lot of ethical criticism, the result still helps Zimbardo to make a conclusion that is helpful for his future endeavor in research. Another thing that makes this experiment beautiful is that it can help the police and military offices to train their people in coping the stress of being imprisoned among the prisoners. It would help them to know how that prison environment has a great factor in creating brutal behavior among the
As I was choosing which 8 point project to do, a friend in the class suggested researching Philip Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment. Prior to this assignment, I actually had not heard about this experiment. After researching this happening, and reading the full story, as written by Dr. Zimbardo, I, in all honesty, immediately began to feel ill. How could people be so horrible to one another? How could the people portraying the guards live with themselves after treating the prisoners so poorly?
They set out to create an experiment where they would become prisoners or prison guards. Zimbardo was interested in investigating further variables which explained human behavior. Researchers wanted to see how participants would survive in the prison environment. In one interview Zimbardo asked the question, if put in a bad place would an individual's goodness triumph? The researchers set up a mock prison where 24 undergraduate students would play the roles of prisoners and prison guards.
Zimbardo ensured that the experiment was more dramatic than an actual prison. In real prisons, guards were encouraged to not cause any conflict in the prison, but Zimbardo encouraged conflict to start. Hosing down, sexually humiliating, and essentially dissociating the prisoners from themselves are a few examples of the now unethical things that took place. Court cases in which guards were charged with abusing the prisoners and even protests took place after the experiment. Arguably, the most controversial part of the entire experiment was the contract.
Before graduate student, Christina Maslach raised concerns about the environment in the mock prison and the morality of continuing the experiment, Zimbardo, who served as the prison warden, did not take the abusive behavior of the jail guards seriously. In conclusion, in the Stanford prison experiments, a few ethical principles were not adhered to, as prisoners’ human rights were not regarded, putting the participants in possible danger. What should have been different in the Stanford prison experiment?
The purpose of the research described in the experiment is to investigate life experienced in prison by both prisoners and guards, the psychological effect it has on both groups. To understand, “basic psychological mechanisms underlying human aggression,”(Zimbardo et al., 1973, p.1). What is the Author(s) hypothesis/hypothesis?
While arguably one of the defining psychological studies of the 20th Century, the research was not without flaws. Almost immediately the study became a subject for debate amongst psychologists who argued that the research was both ethically flawed and its lack of diversity meant it could not be generalized. Ethically, a significant critique of the experiment is that the participants actually believed they were administering serious harm to a real person, completely unaware that the learner was in fact acting. Although Milgram argued that the illusion was a necessary part of the experiment to study the participants’ reaction, they were exposed to a highly stressful situation. Many were visibly distraught throughout the duration of the test
In summary, the purpose of the Stanford Prison Experiment was supposed to demonstrate that powerful situational forces, much like Abu Ghraib, could over-ride individual dispositions and choices, leading good people to do bad things simply because of the role they found themselves
The human mind is a very complex organ which contains many psychological components that are infinite to comprehend. Social constructionism is a field that can be broken down into two different paths, socials and psychological behavior. The two films the Stanford Prison Experiment and The Hunting Ground are good examples of both of these processes. The topics of these films are very relevant to the field of psychology due to their contribution to our everyday psychological brain functions.
This experiment was conducted in Stanford University by Dr. Zimbardo. During this two week long session, Dr. Zimbardo had several volunteers agree to act as prisoners and as prison guards. The prisoners were told to wait in their houses while the guards were to set up the mock prison, a tactic used by Dr. Zimbardo to make them fit into their roles more. The official police apprehended the students assigned to the role of prisoner from their homes, took mug shots, fingerprinted them, and gave them dirty prison uniforms. The guards were given clean guard uniforms, sunglasses, and billy clubs borrowed from the police.
One of the most infamous experiments conducted in the history of psychology was the Stanford Prison Experiment. The main objective of this experiment was to see what effects would occur when a psychological experiment into human nature was performed. As I read through the material provided, I noticed that my thoughts on the matter were similar to many; that it was a complete failure as a scientific research project. However, his findings did provide us with something much more important that is still being talked about today; insight into human psychology and social behavior.
In the case of this experiment the point of views regarding the prisoner varies from two sides; Mr. Zimbardo's and the guards. Through the course of the experiment, Mr. Zimbardo seems disconnected to the experiment as he fails to realize till the very end that he himself has become what he had wished to educate others to watch out
These series of events seemed to bring out the worst in both prisoners and guards. Prisoners were losing all sense of personal identity after being referred to as numbers and not personal names this made them feel less important and they successfully believed it to be true. After six intense days of Phillip Zimbardo’s conforming to social roles experiment a graduate student who was only there to take notes and interview was so shocked by what she saw she demanded the experiment end straight away as it was degrading to watch and degrading for all who took part as Phillip Zimbardo and his team watched the situation descend into chaos she was only the voice that spoke up about how bad the experiment truly
In the article “The Stanford Prison Experiment” by Saul Mcleod it takes the reader through the process of an experiment by the University of Stanford were they got a group of people and split them up into to groups one group of people were guards and the other group of people were the prisoners, now in the experiment the guards were in charge of the prisoners, the prisoners relied on the guards for everything whether it be food or water or even a new set of clothes but as the experiment went on the guard abused their power making prisoners do miniscule task such as clean toilets with toothbrushes re make their beds after they had just been made and other thing, is is an example of the guards having to much power and they abused it at their
This connects to the idea of guards having the capability of turning evil through an atmosphere of the prison environment where they can turn evil and have no remorse feelings towards the prisoners. From the article, "Stanford Prison Experiment," by Saul McLeod, he explained that the evil tactics that were made by the guards were from the atmosphere of the prison environment because the norm for a prison guard is to act tough and have no remorse feelings towards the prisoners when assigning punishments. He also added that guards acted this way because they lost their sense of personal identity when they dressed up as a guard, which can show they may have believed that they were actual guards and the experiment was real, which might’ve triggered their dark side with harsh punishments. Therefore, losing their personal identity in a prison environment may have been the factor where they triggered their evil side during the prison
While the test subjects did in fact consent to the experiment via documents, they developed this false understanding through the experiment that they could not leave at any time, that “there was no way out”. During this time period, there were no existing laws that this experiment violated but it did pave the way for several to be introduced. For example, in the consent form it stated that the prisoners would not experience physical harm, but several days later they were brutally beaten by the guards. A few scenarios such as this one would be considered illegal with today’s legal system. One law that was created after this required federal prisons to separate minors awaiting trial from adults to avoid them suffering from abuse.