Ethical Discussion Paper

Dr Philip Zimbardo created the Stanford prison experiment in 1971, the aim of this experiment was to find out the psychological effects of prison life, and to what extent can moral people be seduced to act immorally. The study consisted of 24 students selected out of 75, the roles of these 24 men were randomly assigned, 12 to play prison guards and 12 to play prisoners. The prison set up was built inside the Stanford’s psychological department, doors where taken of laboratory rooms and replaced with steel bars in order to create cells. At the end of the corridor was the small opening which became the solitary confinement for the ‘bad prisoners’. Throughout the prison there were no windows or clocks to judge the passage in time, which resulted in time distorting experiences. After only a few hours, the participants adapted to their roles well beyond expectations, the officers starting

This Stanford Experiment violated a few of the Five General Principles of Ethics. The young men were offered $15 a day to participate in a study that lasted for one to two weeks that “wanted to see what they psychological effects were of becoming a prisoner or prison guard” (Zimbardo, 1999). One being “Principle A: Beneficence and Nonmaleficence” which

The prisoners were emotionally and mentally harmed during the experiment. The prisoners started to lose their identity, and instead started identifying themselves as their number. One participant even went on a hunger strike for the time that he was in the prison. Another participant had to leave the study because he became excessively disturbed as time went on. After the study was done, people had trouble separating what the people did in the study to how they were in real life, which caused a problem when they all had to meet after the trial was over. This ethical violation is very apparent because Dr. Zimbardo did have to end the study before the two weeks was done.

When providing counseling services to individuals or a group of individuals, one needs to be cautious on his or her approach to everyone’s specific needs. Even though there are a variety of methods to solving a problem, some methods encounter ethical dilemmas. The ethical dilemma is about Jane, a counselor at a community college, who starts a relationship skills group for nine individuals between the ages of 18-25. In her primary course of action, she encounters several ethical dilemmas: she fails to provide sufficient information about the group in an advertisement, encounters ethical problems within the enrollment process, fails

In 1971, psychologist Philip Zimbardo and his colleagues created the experiment known as the Stanford Prison Experiment. Zimbardo wanted to investigate further into human behavior, so he created this experiment that looked at the impact of taking the role of a prisoner or prison guard. These researchers examined how the participants would react when placed in an institutionalized prison environment. They set up a mock prison in the basement of Stanford University’s psychology building. Twenty four undergraduate students were selected to play the roles of both prisoners and guards. These students were chosen because they were emotional, physically, and mentally stable. Though the experiment was expected to last two weeks, it only lasted six days after the researchers and participants became aware of the harm that was being done.

In 1971 a scientist known by his students as Professor Zimbardo conducted an experiment to test if the leading cause of abusive behavior in prisons was the inherent personality traits of prisoners and the prison guards (Wikipedia. “Goals and Methods”). Zimbardo began his experiments by selecting twenty-four of his students, twelve to be prisoners and the other twelve to be the guards. His experiment was funded by the U.S. Office of Naval Research due to the interest of both the U.S. Navy and the Marine Corps interest in imprisoned conflict. The problem with this experiment wasn’t the goal; it was the issues throughout the experiment and what was done about them.

The participants in the “Zimbardo Prison study” had several negative effects. The prisoners suffered mental breakdowns in which they began crying, yelling, and screaming. The guards were consumed in their power and had no compassion for the prisoners in which they stripped, beat, and dehumanized them. The experiment was supposed to last for 14 days but only lasted for six because of the severe effects the prisoners were experiencing. Zimbardo became too involved in the experiment and was not making appropriate decisions to protect those involved in the experiment. The guards were too immersed in their power roles to realize they were hurting the prisoners. Zimbardo’s honesty was compromised and was not of an appropriate experiment conductor. The mental effects of

“Ethics is the study of right actions to achieve good outcomes” (Mertens and Ginsberg). It is distinguishing between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour. (Resnik, 2015) No area of life or work is free of ethical dilemmas, and the research is no exception. (McCarthy, 1996) In 1971, the experiment was done by Dr Phillip Zimbardo. His aim was “to investigate how readily people would conform to the roles of guard and prisoner in a role-playing exercise that simulated prison life.”

Initial Preview: I will discuss the Stanford Prison Experiment, the roles that each member played, and what Dr. Phillip Zimbardo learned.

Was it ethical to conduct this study? The Stanford Prison Experiment was conducted by psychologist Philip Zimbardo. The aim of this experiment was to study human behavior by laying down up a fake experiment in a basement in one of Stanford university buildings (Musen & Zimbardo, 1991). The participants of the experiment were asked to assume either the role of a prisoner or a prison guard.

=“The line between good and evil is permeable and almost anyone can be induced to cross it when pressured by situational forces” (Zimbardo). In August of 1971, psychology professor Philip Zimbardo conducted the Stanford prison experiment, which was funded by the U.S military to investigate the causes of dissension between military guards and prisoners. As the experiment commenced participants, college students, adapted to their roles in the prison far beyond the expectations of Zimbardo. Authoritarian measures were enforced harshly to those who were the prisoners, with some even going as far as to subject prisoners to psychological torture. On the other hand, while the guards acted violently and aggressively, many of the prisoners accepted

The Stanford Prison Experiment conducted in 1970 by Zimbardo was an experiment used to determine human behavior in a negative environment. Psychologist Philip Zimbardo wanted to determine whether prison guards and prisoner’s behaviors were affected due to their roles. He wanted to see if those roles would deteriorate their morals and ethics that they had prior to the experiment. He wanted to see what would happen to an individual who had their dignity and sense of control taken away from them. The experiment was conducted randomly.

The Stanford prison experiment was unique because they wanted to watch and learn the behaviors of a prisoner and a prison guard, observing the effects they found some pretty disturbing things among the students. Dr. Philip Zimbardo and his colleagues at Stanford University stayed true to what they believed, and they did what they felt they needed to do to find a set of results for their simulation. Unfortunately they where swallowed into the experiment, when they became the roles, just as the students where. So from their point of view I want to say that what they where doing was ethical, and being that the prison experiment was stopped before its half way mark showed that they realized that it was time to call it quits. Dr. Zimbardo noticed

In 1971, Zimbardo conducted an experiment in order to determine how an environment can affect behavior. He converted the Stanford University psychology department into the so called Stanford County Prison. The participants flipped a coin to determine whether they would be a guard or a prisoner. The guards were restricted with little rules and immediately began to degrade and humiliate the prisoners. The experiment was intended to last for two weeks, but due to extreme and unforeseen outcomes, it was shut out after six days. This unethical experiment indicated that if normal people are given too much power, they can become ruthless oppressors. The heavily manipulated environment in which the participants lived for those six days encouraged extreme behavior; guards became tyrannical and prisoners became violent (Konnikova). From this experiment, Zimbardo was able to conclude that there are “specific situations so powerful

This study again demonstrates the need for informed participant consent. In this study participants were not provided with proper information regarding the study. Although the subjects consented to being part of the study they were not told of the true intent or purpose of the research. Participants did not receive the implied treatment they needed to survive the illness. The men involved in the study were in fact misled and were not presented with factual information to make an educated decision regarding their participation. Subsequently, the news media broke the story forty years later. Public uproar demanded an investigation. As a result the study ended immediately and a higher need for informed consent came to light once more (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2017). The need for satisfactory moral and ethical laws was now at stake.