The Stanford Prison Experiment : Psychological Effects Of A Prisoner And Guard Scenario

Social psychology is an empirical science that studies how people think about, influence, and relate to one another. This field focuses on how individuals view and affect one another. Social psychology also produces the idea of construals which represent how a person perceives, comprehends or interprets the environment. Construals introduce the idea that people want to make themselves look good to others and they want to be seen as right. It is also said that the social setting in which people interact impacts behavior, which brings up the idea of behaviorism. Behaviorism is the idea that behavior is a function of the person and the environment.

The article on the Stanford Prison Experiment titled, A Study of Prisoners and Guards in a Simulated Prison and written by the Office of Naval Research, provides us with the overall information that deals with this controversial psychological study. The study was conducted by

The year was 1971 and no one was ready for the results that the study, known as the Stanford Prison Experiment would conduct (Whitbourne). A test subject’s fate was determined by the flip of a coin, twelve prison guards and twelve prisoners (Zimbardo). Now that Zimbardo knew he had test subjects, he assembled a team to begin construction of the “Stanford County Jail.” With the help of a former imprisoned convict, the prison was built to be as realistic as possible. Zimbardo said, “The Prison was constructed by boarding up each end of a corridor in the basement of Stanford’s psychology department building (Zimbardo). That corridor was the ‘yard’ and was the only outside place where prisoners would

In the documentary Quiet Rage, the story of Zimbardo’s prison experiment is retold. In the documentary, Zimbardo develops a hypothesis that the abusive behaviors in prison is either caused by pre-existing personality traits of the inmates and guards, or the prison environment itself is the cause. He tested his hypothesis by carefully selecting 24 physically healthy, and mentally stable, male college students to participate in a “mock prison” experiment. The basement of Stanford’s psychology department was used to recreate a prison environment, complete with cells, a prison yard, Warden and Superintendent’s offices, and solitary confinement. Half of the test subjects were randomly selected to be prisoner, and the other half to be guards. They were to be placed in the environment, and their roles, for two weeks, and to be carefully observed by Zimbardo who also acted as the prison superintendent. Zimbardo planned to observe the affects the prison environment had the subjects. Due to the extremely abusive characteristics guards developed, and the swift decline of

The Stanford Prison Experiment conducted by Zimbardo in the summer of 1971 to study the behavior and the psychological effects of becoming a guard and a prisoner. This experiment was supposed to be a two-week experiment, but that was not the case it only ended after six days due to the difficulties and the stress that the guards and the prisoners were experiencing. The methodology behind this experiment was to get volunteers for the study by posting it in the local newspaper. People who were interested in taking a part in the study were screened beforehand for any medical issues and criminal background. 24 College students took a part in this study and they were being paid $15 for each day. After that, the students were divided up into two different groups guards and prisoners which were decided by a flip of a coin, they were put in a prison-like environment which was in the basement of the Psychology Department at the Stanford University.

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.

The Stanford Prison Experiment was a study conducted in 1971 by Dr. Phillip Zimbardo. According to Dr. Steve Taylor (2007), “It’s probably the best known psychological study of all time.” (Classic Studies in Psychology, 2007). Zimbardo stated that the point was to see what would happen if he put “really good people in a bad place” (Dr. Zimbardo, 2007). He did this during a time were most college students were protesting for peace and were against anything authoritarian. The experiment contained both positive and negative aspects; which will be discussed further in this paper.

This experiment needed to answer some difficult questions; one being what happens when you put a good man in a horrible, evil place such as a prison. The person leading the experiment was Psychologist Philip Zimbardo. Zimbardo and his contemporaries needed to find people willing to participate in how the impact of prison life affects the guards and the prisoners. Using an ad in the paper offering fifteen dollars a day, seventy people filled out applications and were heavy screened for drug abuse, any involvements in crime, or any underlying mental illness that was not documented, only twenty-four students from various colleges in Canada and the Stanford area were given the paid opportunity to take part of Zimbardo’s experiment (Zimbardo, Haney, Banks, & Jaffe, 1971).

After reviewing a plethora of disorder, it is easy to say that obsessive-compulsive disorder has to be one of the most challenging disorders. Now, the reasoning behind this opinion is because people who suffer from this disorder no longer are in control of their lives as the routines and actions tend to take control. Additionally, the most disheartening part of this disorder has to be knowing that the need for the ritual is nonexistent. However, if the person does not complete their routine exactly as prescribed, they can have a mental breakdown because of the overwhelming anxiety. Now, the way society can help individuals who have this disorder is through buddy conditioning. For example, say a person has a problem with repeatedly checking locks a friend, family member, or coworker could stop them from giving into the impulse by ensuring

The Stanford Prison Experiment was a psychological experiment that took place at Stanford University from August 14th to August 20th in the year 1971. The experiment was help by professor Phillip Zimbardo, a psychology professor at the university. The goal of the experiment was to find out when you “put good people in an evil place” and whether or not the institution that you are in can determine or control your behavior. The “evil place” or negative environment that Zimbardo chose to simulate for the experiment was a prison, which would be built in the basement of Stanford’s psychology building. The prison was complete with its own cells with jail doors and a tiny dark room, which would be used for solitary confinement.

Based on the Chapter 11 readings, select at least *two* concepts in social psychology and explain how the dynamics associated with both concepts influenced the participants in the Stanford Prison Experiment. The two concepts in social psychology that influenced the participants in the Stanford Prison Experiment was social influence and social cognition. According to the text book “Social Influence psychology research area that investigates how our behavior is affected by situational factors and other people.” In the Stanford Prison Experiment the Psychologists were investigating the situational factors of how being in a prison affected the behavior of the participants.

The Stanford Prison Experiment was to see what would happen if average boys were given roles of guards or inmates and see what would happen. A couple of days into the experiment problems started to occur and “as the guards ratcheted up their psychological aggression, the prisoners began having emotional breakdowns--real ones” (Mechanic 1). The guards became more violent and evil when the inmates had done nothing wrong, because they are just boys who were just ordinary civilians, but the guards treated them as actual prisoners and it made the prisoners have emotional breakdowns. These people would choose to harm someone for no reason. These subjects were ordinary people, but when they were a part of the experiment most of them chose to be evil and savage, and deep down everyone is

Is it possible to fathom healthy, grown men having physical and emotional breakdowns and psychosomatic rashes all because of a mock prison experience? Surely it would be unethical and inappropriate to imprison 20 strangers into a basement of a universities’ psychology building merely to observe how they would act towards one another. But to Philip Zimbardo this unheard of experiment was just another day on the job. This young psychology major could have never predicted that his landmark experiment would become such a highly talked about documentation of the true evils of the human population.

Ever since the August of 1971, there have been no experiments similar to one occurring in the infamous basement of a building at Stanford University. Actually this was one of the most notable studies in history--The Stanford Prison Experiment. In other words, this experimentation is oftentimes recalled for the controversies it created due to ethnic related problems. The man who devised this disputed plan went by the name of Philip Zimbardo. His original purpose was to determine how people are affected by a position of power or an environment different from what they are accustomed to. He tested his theory by creating a mock prison and watched to see how average people would react when placed in this situation. More specifically, the experiment is still acknowledged today for its dehumanization of mock prisoners. The analysis done following the simulation concluded “roles that people play can shape their behavior and attitudes” (McLeod). At the same time I believe the experiment permanently shaped psychology for the better, I also believeit was completely unacceptable it took place because of the psychological abuse the men there had to endure. On the other hand it is argued that these men who signed up for this experiment were simply acting their parts rather than turning evil. Despite the controversies pertaining ethics, many violations were broken relating to the study. Nowadays the Stanford Prison Experiment is unethical due to problems with how it was conducted along

“What happens when you put good people in an evil place? Do the people overwhelm the evil or does the evil of the situation overwhelm the good people?” Psychologist Philip Zimbardo proves throughout his research that when people are put into certain roles they feel a need to conform to that role. Everyone can harbour an evil side of their personality but it takes a certain environment or circumstance to bring it out. In a prison, will a guard abuse their power? Or will a prisoner have a mental breakdown? In the Stanford Prison Experiment, Zimbardo saw that when “normal” people are given too much power, they can transform into harsh oppressors within days. Although the main intent of the experiment was to test the psychological impact of imprisonment for two weeks, the findings from this experiment were so much more: with the guards immediate gain of power and social ranking and the prisoners humiliation and dehumanization, the experiment proved that environment is the main factor in the development of corruption and change in character of both guards and prisoners. Since then Philip Zimbardo has become the president of the Heroic Imagination Project. This organization provides tools and strategies to help individuals take positive action at crucial moments in their lives. Zimbardo also wrote a book on his psychological findings called The Lucifer Effect. He explains his experiment and also brings into it the abuse at Abu Ghraib and another famous study called the Milgram