Summary Of Zimbardo's Life

This experiment was put through to show how prisoners act within a prison environment while being isolated within the cell and being forbidden from contact with people outside the jail. The prisoners were arrested in their homes and taken to the police station. The normal procedures for a convicted criminal were given, and the prisoners were then transferred to the basement of the psychology department. The basement was designed to replicate an average prison. Standard rules such as forbidden prisoner to guard eye contact were given. Guards were not allowed to address the prisoners by anything besides their uniform number. Although just an experiment, the subjects were quickly adapting to their roles. Prison guards began to harass the inmates, and the inmates began to verbally abuse each other to extreme levels. Guards also started using major brutality. Due to the drastic escalation of the physical and verbal abuse, the experiment was terminated early (McLeod). This suggests that when isolated, people can start to act more cruel than they would in

But, in seeking this goal, they sacrificed the prisoners’ liberty within the prison to the extent they went insane. Solitary confinement and beatings are two examples of the terrible conditions. The search for finding a way cure deranged men led to unjust treatment against democratic ideals even though the reformers were trying to improve their lives.

Zimbardo (1973) was interested in finding out whether the brutality reported among guards in American prisons was due to the sadistic personalities of the guards or had more to do with the prison environment.

The study was cut short on August 20th, 1971. Prisoners began to break down emotionally and they tried to find ways to cope with it. The guards had total control of the prison and the prisoners had become isolated individuals. The experiment ended

Those designated to enact the role of a prisoner, were arrested by the Palo Alto police department, obliged to wear chains and prison attire, and were transported to the basement of the Stanford psychology department, which was transformed into a makeshift prison. Furthermore, various guards became increasingly aggressive, resulting in the experiment becoming uncontrollable. Within six days, riots broke out, psychological distresses were showcased by certain prisoners, and unruly punishment was given to the prisoners. These irrational and disreputable incidents, caused the experiment to end abruptly.

What the researchers found during this study was that both the behaviors and mentalities of guards and prisoners changed. Guards became more aggressive and prisoners became passive. A group of five prisoners had to actually be released from the study because of physical and emotional changes they were experiencing. Those prisoners remaining actually began acting as if they were truly incarcerated. By the behaviors they exhibited they had all but forgotten that they were free to leave at any time and not forfeit the money they had already earned. Guards, on the other hand, actually stayed at the prison longer than they were scheduled and were actually disappointed when the study came to a close while prisoners were very happy and expressed their luck at getting released early. These results clearly demonstrate that it is the environment that contributes to the behaviors observed. Those who were given the role of guard expressed the power and control they had over the prisoners. The prisoners began to become hopeless and bend to the power of the guards.

They eventually become weak and lose emotions towards family members. The prisoners aren’t mentally healthy, and because of this, none of their other characteristics are present

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

The second inmate 819 also ended up having an even worse mental breakdown. Zimbardo ended up having a priest who worked in a prison to let him know if there behavior is similar to that of a real life prison setting. 819 met with the priest in which he began to cry hysterically. At that point this when all of the psychologists involved had taken off his cap and chain and told him to go get some rest in a room across from the mock prison. It was then that all the inmates had actually triggered his mental issues by saying a chant, "Prisoner #819 is a bad prisoner. Because of what Prisoner #819 did, my cell is a mess, Mr. Correctional Officer" (McLeod). What none of the psychologist had realized while they were chanting, was that 819 could actually

An example of the care that the Cook County Jail provides to the prisoners is the mental health transition center where inmates receive group and therapy sessions to prepare them for when they get released back into the community. One session that was shown during the video was about the “Anger Cycle” and its warning signs (Vice News, 2015.) The inmates would go around the room and talk about what makes them angry and confront someone on the outside on how it makes them angry and what they do when they are angry. They also would go up to a chalkboard and act like it’s a mirror imagine that there is someone in that mirror from the individuals past and let go of the anger that they may have towards that specific

The documentary “The released” shared a very important and serious social issue, which is mental illness of prisoners. The film described the inside of the Ohio prison system as it resisted to provide care for prisoners that have mental health problems. The system there allowed prisoners to leave the jail and either go to a shelter or a residential treatment center, to get the health care they need. After the release, prisoners need to take their medications and keep track with a psychiatrist or a mental health care center. However, most of the prisoners didn’t do what is required, most of them didn’t keep up with their medications and end up by going back to jail. The reason of the release was to give them chance to recover by taking medications

What Specific techniques were used to bring about the destruction of self-awareness among the prisoners?

"Even though conditions such as lack of sleep, insufficient food and various mental stresses may suggest that the inmates were bound to react in certain ways, in the final analysis it becomes clear that the sort of person the prisoner became was the result of an inner decision, and not the result of camp influences alone.”(Frankl).The way people react during hard times shows a lot about that person. When a person

You are correct that professor Zimbardo could not be part of the experiment and try to remain focused or objective. One of the main reasons that professor Zimbardo messed up is because he allowed his presence to influence the guards in a negative way. Situational actions of the guard were increased because he allowed certain actions to proceed.