Stanford Prison Study Philip Zimbardo

The Stanford Prison Experiment was a clear example of how humans can adapt to specific social roles and behave differently under the pressure of control. The experiment illustrated the concepts of deviance and social control through participants behavior. Although the prisoners were not really prisoners, they believed that they were. The behavior of the prisoners began to morph along with the experiment. By day two, the prisoners were showing deviance by barricading themselves inside their cells. The environment and treatment of the prisoners were likely causes of the disobedience. Similarly, the guards showed signs of social control throughout the experiment. Guards were able to show control over the prisoners through various actions, such

This article concerns the Stanford Prison experiment carried out in 1971 at Stanford University. The experiment commenced on August 14, and was stopped after only six days. It is one of the most noted psychological experiments on authority versus subordinates. The studies which emerged from this have been of interest to those in prison and military fields due to its focus on the psychology associated with authority.

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.

These situations would most often be caused by the hierarchical structure amongst the inmates rather than, between them and the guards. In my essay I will show how the rise in power by Luke and the drop in power of Dragline exhibit themes of obedience to authority, conformity and non-conformity.*

The prisoners became submissive and accepted a denigrating treatment. They discriminated against the rioters of the group and obeyed the orders of the guards, although this involved humiliating

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.

Everyone’s overall behavior became very negative, with the intentions to harm one another, even though their engagements were positive and negative. They engaged in verbal abuse, increasing daily, and a few became extremely emotional, enraged and depressed within a short amount of time. Although, most of the chosen inmates were willing to terminate and forfeit their monetary rewards due to the hostile demands and interactions, the guards would have been willing to extend their roles of power and control. Each guard was on time for their assignment and also willing to stay a few extra hours, while only one was emotionally distressed by witnessing the affliction of the

By limiting the individuality of the prisoners within the Stanford Prison Experiment, prisoners quickly conformed to their roles. They depended on guards

Not only were the prison guards fast to embrace their role, the prisoners were also fast to adapt to their non-authoritarian role,

The issues of ethics start when a couple of the “guards” began to conduct immoral behavior after feeling a few felt embarrassed about what could have happened on their watch (Fisher, pg. 35). They placed too much importance on the idea of the individuals, of their own embarrassment as well as the importance that the “prisoners” were possibly planning an outbreak. Therefore they underestimated their situation and how important their

The rest of the guards followed his lead into a path of ultimate humiliation, degradation, harassment and trauma onto the prisoners. The prisoners rebelled which ensued the guards to force harder exercises, starvation, lack of bathroom rights, and beds to sleep on, etc. They then devised a path of degrading psychological humiliations in order to disrupt the prisoner solidarity. After several

Throughout A.P. Psychology, there is the opportunity to apply course content to various research studies that have occurred during the history of Psychology. In the field of social psychology, a course content is applied to a research study. An example of this is the well-known “ Stanford Prison Study”, it was a research experiment to discover the psychological effects of perceived power and observing the struggle between prisoners and Prison officers. The Stanford psychology department created a stimulated jail assigning regular boy college students in the roles of “guards” and “prisoners”. The research study was planned by a famous psychologist named Philip Zimbardo, along with his associates Craig Haney, Curtis Banks, and Dave Jaffe.

They were given ranks from the junior to the senior being the highest, with the urge to be promoted; most of the guards enhanced their bizzare cruelty against the prisoners to seek promotions. As a norm, the guards who appeared to be the most sadist against the prisoners got higher ranks that earned them more benefits. The advancements of the sadists influenced the humane guards to also seek the promotions.It did not take long for the prisoners to develop fears and stigmas. They were extremely afraid of the sadist nature of the guards. The situation was out of control and horrendous. The guards represented the Lucifer effect; they were ‘living evils’ the prisoners had no other choice but to abide by the authoritative power of the guards. They were submissive to extents of willing to do anything to create good relationships with the guards, hoping to seek some favors for their survival. It was an experience that traumatized them in so many different

A.Philip Zimbardo was occupied with seeing if the mercilessness revealed among guards in American prisons was because of the identities of the guards or had more to do with the jail condition . For instance, detainee and gatekeepers may have identities which make strife inescapable, with detainees lacking admiration for lawfulness and watchmen being overbearing and forceful.

The only treatment variable within the research design used was that of either being assigned to the group of guards or prisoners (Zimbardo, 1973). Dependent measures were taken in two different ways. The first method of measure was the audio and video surveillance within the prison which recorded day to day activity. The second method was "individual reactions on questionnaires, mood inventories, personality tests, daily guard shift reports, and post experimental interviews" (Zimbardo, 1973)