Stanford Prison Experiment Philip Zimbardo

Less than two days into the experiment, one of the prisoners began to experience rage, emotional disturbance, uncontrollable crying, began acting crazy, and screaming. The experiment leaders realized he was really suffering and they had to release him. The next day was visiting day for the parents and friends of the prisoners. In order to stop parents from taking their children home, the experimenters cleaned the prison and the prisoners to make them seem pleasant. After the parents visited, there were rumors going around that the prisoners were going to attempt to escape. After the rumor was proved to be untrue, guards acted harshly towards the prisoners and added punishments. A priest who visited the prison, talked with prisoners and offered to contact some of their families for legal help. By day five, there were three types of guards; tough but fair guards, good guards, and hostile guards.

The prisoners became dependent, helpless, and passive. On the other hand, the guards acted exactly opposite. “They became abusive and aggressive at the simulated prison, bulling and insulting the prisoners’. “After the experiment was completed, most of the guards said that they enjoyed the power. Some of the others said that they had no idea of what they were capable. Everyone in the experiment was surprised at the results as well as saying, It was degrading.

Midway through, which was only six days in, the supposedly 2-week long experiment, was put to an end. The way that the prisoners reacted to the guards and vice versa, was all because of cause and effect being escalated through each of their behaviors. In paragraph 11 of The Stanford Prison Experiment by Saul McLeod, it says, “Within hours of beginning the experiment some guards began to harass prisoners. They behaved in a brutal and sadistic manner, apparently enjoying

The experimentors proposed that these reactions were caused by a loss of personal identity, dependency, emasculation and acceptance sadistic treatment from the guards and the unpredictable and arbitrary control of the prison system.

The Stanford Prison Experiment was a physiological study made to understand what affected the police brutality in prison environments. Zimbardo conducted this experiment in 1973. The goal was “To investigate how readily people would confirm to the roles of guard and prisoner in a role-playing exercise that stimulated prison life. 24 male college students were tested for their psychological normality. The chosen ones were paid $15 a day to take part in the experiment.

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.

This experiment (pg.23) brought out the worst in the authoritative group part of the research. The guards had no humanly regard for the prisoners and lost all morals and their code of ethics (pg.30), if they had any. They harassed, tortured and humiliated the prisoners as if they had just become the righteous group by using their power to make the prisoners turn on each other. On the other side, the prisoners took their roles too seriously as well. Most became to differential susceptible (pg.6) and vulnerable to the abuse.

Why would you put innocent people through torture to see if they break. The point of this experiment was to make the people who were innocent believe that they were correctional officers and that they were prisoners. First of all why were the correctional officers given two shifts and the prisoners only had one shift which was twenty four seven. Another thing that is irritating and unrealistic is the fact that they had a storage college as a “the hole”. The people in charge have something seriously wrong with them in my opinion. This whole experiment is just crazy to me. When the experiment started they stripped the prisoners down and sprayed them. In real prisons they will strip you down but they do not spray

The surrounding environment is significantly influential, as it can alter an individual’ s perspective and behaviors. This concept is well demonstrated in Dr. Zimbardo’s 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment, consisting of 24 male college students that were compensated with 15 dollars daily to assume the roles of either a prisoner or a guard. They responded to a local newspaper advertisement for Dr. Zimbardo’s experiment on discovering if the reasons for brutality displayed among American prison guards was a result of their aggressive personalities or a situational factor influenced by the reformatory environment (McLeod, 2008). The study was initially intended to last for two weeks but ended in six days due to the exceptionally aggressive behaviors of the guards treating the inmates inhumanely. Some prisoners became submissive to the authority of the guards, whereas others tested their power by refusing to eat, barricading themselves in their rooms, and one individual displayed a significant amount of psychological distress that allowed him to leave the study

They felt guilt, accepted humiliations and bad behaviors, and that led to depression and mental issues, they had no real control and became passive. Moreover, they showed and over rated stress and anxiety. 5 of the prisoners couldn’t handle the experiment which was full of

The Stanford Prison Experiment was a psychology experiment performed by Philip Zimbardo in 1971. He was previously a student of Stanley Milgram who is best known for his experiments involving obedience. In order for Zimbardo to perform his project he needed the assistance of his colleagues. Zimbardo was inspired by his professor and wanted to do more. He knew exactly how to do this and began to execute his plan.

The point of this experiment is cause and effect based, seeing how putting people in a harsh, pressuring environment, effects their mental health. On day one the men were arrested, like any other criminal, and brought into the prison. There the guards stripped them from their worldly clothes and took away their personal belongings. Once naked, the guards began to make fun of the prisoners’ bodies and genitals.

That is, in this situation we’ll have all the power and they’ll have none”. Zimbardo promoted the deindividualization of the prisoners which ultimately lead to guards taking control. Prisoners were physically and mentally abused and tormented. They were teased, hit and were prevented from sleep and nutritious food leading to them becoming weak and tired. Guards called prisoners by their assigned numbers, forcing prisoners to perform a “prisoner count” numerous times over.

After just one day, the prisoners staged a rebellion by ripping off their ID, and screaming at the guard. The guard responded in sadistic fashion, they sprayed fire extinguishers on the prisoners, took away their beds, and put the leader of the rebellion in solitary confinement. Also, the guards set up a “privilege cell” in which prisoners who were well behaved were treated with special privilege, for example having beds, could wash or eat. Soon after, even those who behaved badly were allowed into this cell, creating a confusion among the

but the experiment was disbanded after 5) in a ‘prison’ set up in the basement of a university. Each ‘prisoner’ was arrested in their own homes and taken to the prison. In the course of the experiment it was noted that the prisoners were dehumanised, humiliated and some suffered psychosomatic rashes and even seizures. The guards became ruthless, guiltless and seemed to enjoy the dominance and power they had over the prisoners. The aim was to investigate how people conformed