Stanford Prison Experiment Philip Zimbardo

They also got a chain and lock around their one foot to remind them, that their freedom was “lost”. Each day the simulated guards would taunt the fake prisoners. Experimental prisoner number 8612, was the first to have an emotional breakdown. The fourth day in, things got very sexual, and the guards loved to humiliate the prisoners. Every day a prisoner had a mental breakdown.

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.

There they met the guards and prison warden, who was Zimbardo. The prisoners were stripped naked and humiliated by verbal abuse, the guards, however could never physically harm them. The prisoners were given identification numbers instead of names. The guards had no training prior to the experiment and were told to do whatever they thought was necessary to keep order.

The guards began to use physical punishment. They also would force the inmates to sleep without a mattress or sleep naked. The inmates were in cells built for three people. They had to share a bucket for excretion and defecating. The guards refused to dump the buckets causing the sanitation to be very poor. At one point in the experiment Zimbardo heard the release prisoner was going to help the others escape he moved the prison, but he never tried to help them escape. When Christina Maslach, Zimbardo’s future wife, said that she believe the experiment was not moral he discontinued his research on the sixth day. The results show obedience to authority and behavioral

Known as the “Stanford Prison Experiment”, a group of students were chosen to act as either guards or prisoners in a fake prison. The experiment started off without a hitch, but after a riot things began to change for the worst. The guards began to take their job too seriously, sending prisoners off to solitary confinement and beating them. They also began to refuse giving the prisoners food. As the prisoners began to question the guards, their beatings got worse and they wanted out of the experiment.

The Zimbardo prison experiment was a study of human responses to captivity, dehumanization and its effects on the behavior on authority figures and inmates in prison situations. Conducted in 1971 the experiment was led by Phlilip Zimbardo. Volunteer College students played the roles of both guards and prisoners living in a simulated prison setting in the basement of the Stanford psychology building.

Zimbardo had 22 male college volunteers be paid to be randomly assigned the role of a guard or a prisoner. Prisoner volunteers were treated exactly like how real prisoners are treated. They were arrested at their homes, fingerprinted, and punished if they misbehaved. The volunteers adapted to their roles very easily, and eventually a rebellion broke out on the second day of the experiment. The guards responded to this rebellion with harsh punishment.

All of the participants were selected from the students who got 15 dollars per day and passed the test without any mental illness. The roles they were playing as the prisoner or the guard were picked randomly. Prof Zimbardo also played a role as an administrator of the prison. Before starting the experiment, he gave a brief orientation to all of the guards that were the maintenance of disciplines and forbiddance the use of physical violence. He reminded the guards once a prison escaped from the cell, the experiment was terminated. He also emphasized that the guards and the administrator had the constant super power during the experiment but the prisoners had none. All of the students who were playing the roles of prisoners were folded their eyes and brought them walking into the basement, in order to confuse their locations. When they entered into the prison, they were peeled off and put on a prison’s clothes, made fun with their genitals, put stocking to cover their head. According to Prof Zimbardo, it was the degradation process which was also processed in the military type. It was the first day of the

It had the first step of separating guards from prisoners, and their different roles. Then, the prisoners were given symbols such as their ID numbers and their dresses to classify them as prisoners. The main stage that happened in this experiment was dehumanization. The prisoners lost their inalienable rights, such as going to the bathroom, and they were treated as if they did not deserve these rights. The next step enacted was polarization between the prisoners. The guards focused their aggression on each other instead of the real perpetrators. The guards and even Zimbardo were also psychologically affected by this experiment. Before the experiment started, the guards were seen as harmless and calm. Towards the end of the experiment, most turned out to be sadistic. Zimbardo did not realize the effects of this experiment until he suddenly ended it. In conclusion, all the psychological traits in genocide were inflicted on all the people involved with the Stanford Prison

Evidence includes the guards position in the article “Stanford Prison Experiment”. The quote “Other than that, the guards were to run the prison as they saw fit”, tells us that there were no rules or restrictions for the guards to follow. It meant that the guards were free to do anything that they felt would maintain order. As I said before, people change depending on the situation, or in this case, position that they’re in. It was said that a lot of the guards became sadistic.

The guards really enforced the feel to the whole setting they were being really harsh to them and the way the spoke to them like they were nothing. I mean, it was an experiment, and they really didn't have to be harsh since we’re all humans. The parole board was really strict and when the people were really broken down by the torture and were pleading to be late go they told them “ Do you think a person like you should be allowed in the streets.” They didn't let them leave when they were supposed to be let go. Also, when they had visiting day, they told them not to say anything about what happened in the “prison”.

They were booked in at a station through the usual routines. They were then driven blindfolded to the simulated prison. Once they arrived they were stripped completely and sprayed with delousing preparation. After being given their uniforms and having their mugshot taken, the warden welcomed them and read them the rules of the prison. The dehumanizing experiment required every prisoner to learn their I.D numbers and the rules established by the Warden. Not only that but they were also given only 3 bland meals a day, 3 supervised restroom passes daily, and 2 hours daily either reading or writing. They were also accounted for three times a day to see that everyone was

The people went on crying for about ten minutes. Then the prisoners opened the doors. Everything was in disorder and contorted. Heat was given off.

This way was just as effective as physically harming them. From the very beginning the guards needed to assert their power and authority so it gives the impression of a real prison and makes the experiment as real as possible, they succeeded. They brought in a priest who heard confessions from prisoners and when he listened to the mock prisoners even he began to think it was a real prison and he said that the responses that he heard were similar to real prisoners who had just been imprisoned.