A Study On The Stanford Prison Experiment Essay

The culture of maximum-security prison, for example, values attributes relating to the alpha male and look up to toughness and insensitivity, who practices hostility and manipulation toward both other inmates and prison staff. Passive behaviors, feministic qualities, softness of character, and signs of emotional pains are frown upon and view as weakness (Clear, Cole, Petrosino, Reisig,

In The Stanford Prison Experiment it explains how guards take power over the prisoners. In paragraph 11 it tells how they are tormenting the prisoners and enjoying the things that they are doing. The guards demanded even greater obedience from

The article on the Stanford Prison Experiment titled, A Study of Prisoners and Guards in a Simulated Prison and written by the Office of Naval Research, provides us with the overall information that deals with this controversial psychological study. The study was conducted by

The author of Descent into Madness discusses how systems of criminal justice that engage in high levels of disorganization become nothing short of a breeding ground for discontentment among prison inmates. The other main point is that prison staff psychologically are hungry for power. This manifests in the myriad of ways that they treat the inmates in an effort to feel powerful through by retribution through their

Philip Zimbardo and his team aimed to demonstrate the situational rather than the dispositional causes of negative behaviour and thought patters found in prison settings by conducting the simulation with average everyday participants playing the roles of guard and prisoner. From a total of seventy-five volunteers, twenty-two male participants

the negative personality traits of prisoners and guards are the main cause of abusive behaviour in prison.

An unethical violation was that the prisoner’s agreed to a consent form that established there would be no physical harm. That violation was broken when the guards began to hit the prisoners, and physically abuse them. This confirms that their consent forms were broken and that should of concluded the experiment, but it was still being conducted. Another unethical violation was that the experiment creased mental and psychological effects to the participants. The prisoners experienced long term traumas due to the events they had with gone.

In recent years, the use of solitary confinement has become a topic of interest in the mental health field, criminal justice system, and political arena. Despite being deemed Constitutional by the Supreme Court, many mental health professionals are beginning to investigate the negative psychological effects of solitary confinement. Although there is growing concern regarding the humaneness of solitary confinement, a topic of interest that has yet to be explored in much detail is the relationship between theories of criminal behavior regarding aggression and solitary confinement.

The Stanford Prison Experiment was conducted by a research group led by Dr. Philip Zimbardo using Stanford students during August 14 through the 20th of 1971. Dr. Zimbardo wanted to see how people reacted when they are either put in captivity or in charge of others. The study was funded by the US Office of Naval Research and grew interest to both the US Navy and the Marine Corps for an investigation to the purpose of conflict among military guards and prisoners. In the study, 24 male students were selected out of 75 applicants to take on randomly assigned roles. One of the surprises of the study was how participants quickly adapted to roles well beyond expectations. After the first eight hours, the experiment turned to be a joke and nobody was taking it seriously but then prisoners

This behavior continues after they are released from prison, and they distant themselves from their family and friends. Distrust can be formed due to isolating themselves from the other prisoners is the best way to keep them out of danger. By cutting themselves from others, they can be afflicted with depression. Distrust can also be formed due to the customs and culture of prison life. In prison, the strong prey upon the weak; therefore, prisoners find ways to show their toughness and strength. Prisoners desire to keep themselves from being tricked and manipulated by others. Another physiological effect of incarceration is the loss of self-worth. Prisoners have no privacy or options during their daily routines. They are constantly watched and forced under prison conditions. These and other degrading acts, over time, give prisoners the sense that their own identity is a prisoner and nothing else (Haney). After prisoners are released, they are struck with psychological problems. Some prisoners experience post-traumatic stress reactions after they leave prison; this is due to physiological lifestyle they experienced while being in prison. While prisoners can obtain mental problems in prison, they can also obtain mental problems after they are released from prison.

Prisons hide prisoners from society. “If an inmate population is shut in, the free community is shut out, and the vision of men held in custody is, in part, prevented from arising to prick the conscience of those who abide by the social rules” (Sykes, 1958, 8). The prison is an instrument of the state. However, the prison reacts and acts based on other groups in the free community. Some believe imprisonment

The Stanford Prison Experiment was designed to allow 24 participants (college students) to be arrested in a mock police state scenario without any charges being brought against them. The participants were hooded and put into a prison cellblock with other mock prisoners. The purpose of the experiment was to see how non-criminals would be affected by the prison culture and the oversight of prison guards. Philip G. Zimbardo (2004)

While dedicated research on the subject of psychological damage as a result of imprisonment is surprisingly sparse there are a few articles that touch on the subject. Prison is a ripe case study for many Psychology scholars due to its inherently insular nature and varied subcultures. Researchers have noticed frightening trends among inmates such as increased aggression, impairment of executive functions, and increased development of psychosomatic disorders.

The Stanford prison experiment (SPE) was study organized by Philip George Zimbardo who was a professor at Stanford University. Basically, SPE was a study of psychological effect. He studied about how personality and environment of a person effect his behaviour. Experiment he performed was based on prison and life of guards. He wants to find out whether personality get innovated in person according to given environment (situational) or due to their vicious personalities that is violent behaviour (dispositional). The place where the whole experiment was set up Philip Zimbardo and his team was Stanford University on August 14Th to August 20th in the year 1971 (Wikipedia).

This study represents a parallel to the behavior found in incarcerated humans. Jails cause the same psychological side effects as prisons, to a smaller degree, in the effects of being en-caged, however, the overall standard of living in jails is much higher. There is a decent relationship between the guards and the jailers. The jailers are allowed to interact with the same people on their 'block' between "lockdown" times. Lock-down is when the jailers are confined to their cells, usually at night and for a short while in the day, during a change of shift. This method allows inmates to play cards, watch TV together and at very least walk around something else besides their cell. The prison system, however, usually remains in lockdown all the time, although they can speak to each other, they usually can't see each other without a mirror. Observing these two methods, and what little problems there are in jails as opposed to prisons leads me to believe that if you treat a human being like a human being they will act like a human being. If you lock them in a cage all day they may as well act like an animal. (Prison Activist Resource Center, 1-3)