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Summary Of Zimbardo's Prison Experiment

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In the summer of 1971 professor Philip Zimbardo of Yale University conducted a social psychology experiment that had the intention of understanding human conformity in groups. This essay will analyse and evaluate the contribution to understanding, the method used and the practical implications of the study. Additionally, this essay will discuss the ethical implications highlighted by this experiment. Zimbardo's prison experiment was a difference from the early work into biological processes however, his experiment has had an impact on government and organizational policies.

Zimbardo's experiment was considered a follow on from Milgram's conformity study that involved ordinary people believing they were administering a lethal dose of electricity …show more content…

Desiring to know if the systemic reports of abuse in American prisons was situational or dispositional. Zimbardo believed prior to the experiment that if the individuals that were selected to be guards behaved in non-aggressive, respectful manner towards prisoners then the abuse in prisons would be due to guard’s personalities and would support the idea that it was dispositional. However, if the individuals identified as guards were drawn into abusive, disrespectful behaviour then abuse in prisons could be situational and could be a result of prisons rigid social environment (Zimbardo, …show more content…

The assimilation of roles and the attitudes of individuals can be explained by Zimbardo’s experiment. As individuals we all conform to a set of norms that have been designed to maintain certain behaviours (Havighurst, 1973). These roles that individuals identify with are sometimes broad for example gender or nationality however, these roles can then be reduced to sexuality, social class or a multitude of further reductions that would influence behaviour or attitude (Cialdini, R. and Trost, M, 1998). Further research from Zimbardo’s experiment have identified negative effects of conforming to a contrived set of behaviours, arguably none more than gender. Slavich et al (2009) postulates the idea that in life we are either a prisoner or guard and if we are not limiting the freedom of others as a parent, boss or spouse then individuals are intern a prisoner and assuming that role. The Stanford Prison Experiment identified the potential for these expectations of identity to push even the average person to commit depraved acts (Zimbardo, Maslach, & Haney, 1999). In turn this has inspired reforms within the prison system and Zimbardo has been involved in internal reviews of prison policy for over twenty years after his initial experiment (Haney & Zimbardo, 1998). Laws were changed due to the further research of juvenile abuse in prison conducted by

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