Stanford Prison Experiment Summary

After reading the Stanford Prison Experiment that was conducted by Philip Zimbardo and his colleagues, to determine if roles have an effect on ones’ judgement. This was determined by developing a prison simulation that would place participants in a situation that would require them to play the proper role, knowingly or unaware of this action. As for deciding the proper participants, numerous tests were used on them, to ensure that none of the participants had a psychological disorder that could affect the results of the study. Therefore, 20 participants were able to meet all the requirements for the study; however, only 18 participants were used throughout the whole study, and the rest were called in if it was necessary. This would then lead

The guard attempted to hide this situation from the people running the experiment because of them “being too soft on the prisoners.” Another guard, not aware he was being observed, paced around the “yard” while the prisoners slept, watching his “captives” and aggressively hitting them with his nightstick. A majority of the prisoners still involved in the experiment started to accept the loss of their identities and the abusive treatment they received, because of the belief that they “deserved it.” The guards formed a corrupt but unified team that used their power to inspire fear and complete control over the prisoners. The prisoners, in response, became mentally compromised and developed depression, feelings of helplessness, and feelings of psychosis.

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).

When put into an authoritative position over others, is it possible to claim that with this new power individual(s) would be fair and ethical or could it be said that ones true colors would show? A group of researchers, headed by Stanford University psychologist Philip G. Zimbardo, designed and executed an unusual experiment that used a mock prison setting, with college students role-playing either as prisoners or guards to test the power of the social situation to determine psychological effects and behavior (1971). The experiment simulated a real life scenario of William Golding’s novel, “Lord of the Flies” showing a decay and failure of traditional rules and morals; distracting exactly how people should behave toward one another. This

The researchers observed the behaviors and mentalities of both guards and prisoners by naturalistic observation.

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.

Conclusion In conclusion, the Stanford Prison Experiment was an insightful experiment, yet it was an unfortunate experiment due to the suffering that many “Prisoners” faced from Prison Guard brutality. Power is something that barely any human can control and this was ultimately observed in the Stanford Prison Experiment. The Stanford Prison Experiment personally relates to a situation that I faced in middle school with a close friend. In my last year of middle school, my friends and I started a powerful and independent women's’ club.

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 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

To begin, in the article, “The Stanford Prison Experiment,” the theme that the roles that people play can shape their behavior and attitudes is established through real life examples. The real life examples shown were of ordinary people put into a simulation and conformed to their roles in the experiment. This article establishes its theme very effectively. The real life examples give insight to the reader about just how powerful conformity can be. In the report created to inform reader about the events that occurred in the experiment, it states, “I was surprised at myself.

The year was 1971 and an experiment that has not been replicated since was concluded early on the campus of Stanford University. A total of twenty-four mentally stable college students participated in this groundbreaking psychology study. The study involved some students to play a role as mock prison guards and the rest of the participants became the inmates. The study was designed to be realistic with the local police “arresting” the inmates followed by issuing an inmate identification number, uniform, and being deloused. A mock prison was setup in the basement of psychology department on the campus.

Evil exists in our environments. I believe that everyone is born with good intentions. I think the environments that we are put into make us either have a good or evil mindset. An example from the film was the Stanford Prison Experiment. Before the men were put into a prison environment, all of them were just normal college students.

Dr. Pilip Zimbardo is not an unknown name in the world of psychology. He graduated at Brooklyn College in 1954 with majors in sociology, anthropology, and of course psychology. Zimbardo has spent most of his career researching how and why people are transformed into certain situations so that they behave in unexpected ways, such as when a good person commits an atrocious act, or an intelligent person does something irrational. The Stanford Prison Experiment is Dr. Zimbardo’s ‘attempt to understand the process of transformation at work when good or ordinary people do bad or evil things.’

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)

In 1971 Philip Zimbardo conducted the Stanford Prison Experiment (SPE) in the basement of Stanford University as a mock prison. Zimbardo’s aim was to examine the effect of roles, to see what happens when you put good people in an evil place and to see how this effects tyranny. He needed participants to be either ‘prisoners’ or ‘guards’ and recruited them through an advertisement, 75 male college students responded and 24 healthy males were chosen and were randomly allocated roles. Zimbardo wanted to encourage deindividuation by giving participants different uniforms and different living conditions (the guards had luxuries and the prisoners were living as real prisoners). The guards quickly began acting authoritarian, being aggressive towards the prisoners and giving them punishments causing physical and emotional breakdowns. Zimbardo’s intention was for his study to last for 2 weeks, however, it