Twisted Prison Experiment

The mock prison was set up in the Stanford University psychology building’s basement. From a larger group of 70 volunteers, a group of 24 undergraduate students were selected to play the role of either prisoner or prison guard at a rate of $15 a day for a period of one to two weeks. The selection of participants was based on the “no criminal background, lacked psychological issues and had no major medical conditions” (Cherry, 2010).

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.

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.

Zimbardo decided to run an experiment where he would turn a basement under the Stanford campus into a mock prison where he would interview several participants where they would randomly get assigned either guard, or prisoner. Zimbardo aimed to see how everyone pertained the roles they were placed in. Interviewing 75 potential participants, Zimbardo only chose 24 male college students which they received payments of $15/day. They had two reserves in which were the back-ups just in case any of them wanted to drop out. The prison simulation was kept as real as possible. The participants were “arrested” taken to the police station booked, finger printed, and photographed. Then being blindfolded they were taken back to the campus in the basement where Zimbardo created the mock prison with real barred doors and windows along with bare walls with small cells. Once the “prisoners” arrived, they were stripped naked and given the prison clothes and bedding. The prisoners had their own number which they were only referred to. They wore just a smock with no clothes under along with a nylon cap and a chain around their ankle. Guards were given a stereotypical khaki outfit with whistles, handcuffs, and mirrored glasses working 8 hour shifts a day with three people working each shift. Physical violence was not permitted to the guards. Observing the behaviors of the guards and prisoners, Zimbardo realized how everyone was

In Philip Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment he selected twelve men to be prisoners and twelve men to be prison guard. At first he gave the volunteers the option to be either a guard or prisoner but none of them chose to be a guard just as none of the police men wanted to kill anyone. Eventually the men chosen to be guards enjoyed their position and took advantage of it at times. In the Police Battalion 101 the men were nervous and timid at

On the other hand, the guards were treated differently from the inmates as they were given identical guard-style uniforms, reflective sunglasses that aimed to provide them an authoritative, secretive appearance and the freedom to live their normal lives when they were not on their 8-hour shifts. The independent variable of the “Stanford Prison” study is the roles into the participants were randomly assigned to in the mock prison environment, while the dependent variable of this study is the behavior measures, he emotional measures of mood and pathology, attitudes toward self among these prisoners and guards. The findings of this experiment were absolutely mind-blowing. The mock prison environment turned into a reality and the roles assigned to these college students became their real identities (either prisoners or guards). The guards treated the prisoners with no mercy, coming up with creative ways of breaking the prisoners’ spirit. Meanwhile, all the prisoners seemed to forget that they do have the rights to quit the study anytime they intend to, instead they submissively accepted and conformed to the rules set by the guards, including the sadistic and degrading treatments from the

This essay is an investigation of the application from the Zimbardo Stanford Prison Experiment to some similar scenarios that demonstrate the same or similar findings found within the Stamford Prison Experiment that were influenced by external factors and influences. The Stamford Prison Experiment was conducted to investigate how subtle people are to conform to roles of the guard and prisoner in a mock prison environment and if the behaviours were influenced by the environment or by sadistic personalities of guards (McLeod, 2016). There are several factors that influence good guards to not question orders from bad guards and a few of these factors will be outlined in this essay. The first topic that will be discussed is the similarities of

Interestingly enough, participants became so taken into the ordeal that they seem to forget who they were and that they were involved in an experiment as prisoner participants had internalized their roles. This is based on the fact that some had stated that they would accept parole even under the condition of giving up all of their participation pay. However, when their parole applications were denied, none of

Philip Zimbardo, he explained that the procedure for the Stanford Prison Experiment was to observe an individual's behavioral and psychological damages that can impact their role-playing of being a prisoner or a guard for two weeks in the basement of the Psychology building at Stanford University. Participants were 24 selected healthy, intelligent, middle-class college male students from across the United States and Canada. Each one of participants were to have a clear background check of no behavioral damages and no psychological damages in order to participate in the experiment. Those who participated in the experiment had an opportunity to earn 15 dollars a day during the two-week period. The process of the experiment was that participants were arrested from home by police, searched, warned of legal rights and handcuffed, then were booked at the police station with formal fingerprint scanning and identification completion.

I have been exposed to some of the most awful injustices against mankind that anyone would ever witness. This Stanford Prison Experiment fails to address how negatively a prison sentence affects the friends and family members of the prisoners. As in the film prisoners become extremely depressed after visiting with loved ones. They often become anxious and even suicidal. Many prisoners attempt suicide that they me be prescribed psych -meds that they may escape the reality of the new environment of prison living. What I considered to be spot on after viewing the film is that when an individual is placed in a position of authority, they can change drastically. I’ve witnessed this first hand especially when I was a correctional officer in Texas. Guards tend to assume authoritative sentences that border on abuse. There are commonalities with these roles with an average psychologist who is called upon to conduct a head count during count time and is to assume the role as correctional officer /psychologist. These roles are almost instantly stressful and taxing. In many cases rendering the psychologist ineffective in his primary role as counselor/therapist.

The following case study provides information obtained through research, regarding the Stanford Prison Experiment during the year of 1971. This case study will pay particular attention to the inmate and guard life.

Craig Haney, Curtis Banks and Philip Zimbardo are the authors of A Study of Prisoners and Guards in a Simulated Prison and published the article in September 1973. The purpose of the Zimbardo Stanford Prison Experiment was to grasp a greater knowledge of, “the basic psychological mechanisms of human aggression.” (Haney, Banks, & Zimbardo, 1973, pg. 1) Creating a simulated prison environment did this. During this experiment, a greater understanding of the development in roles, labels, and social expectations was identified. The researchers thought this topic should be studied to help determine and isolate the processes, which induce aggressive and submissive nature within an

"A study of prisoners and guards in a simulated prison" is a research project which was created by Haney, C., Banks, W.C. & Zimbardo, P.G. (1973). The article is study for both of prisoners and guards psychological behaviors in a simulation prison. The authors have dispositional hypotheses which are "....despicable conditions, violence, brutality, dehumanization and degradation existing "in prisoners, on the other hand, "sadistic, uneducated and insensitive people” in guards

The famous Stanford Prison Experiment, of 1971, was a psychological experiment put together by Philip Zimbardo, who was a social psychologist. The main point of the experiment was to observe the social powers of a given role, the social norms, and the script of a person. However, not being able to go to an actual prison, Zimbardo created a mock prison in the basement of the Psychology building at Stanford University. An ad was placed in the local newspapers asking for male volunteers. All volunteers were male college students, of Stanford or the surrounding counties. Over seventy men volunteered to play a role in the experiment. Every single one of them was put through psychological testing. the psychological test was used to filter out

This report on the Stanford Prison Experiment will define the ethical issues related to prisoner treatment and prison culture in a mock scenario created 1971. The findings of this study define the inclination towards corruption and riotous behavior within the overarching relationship between guard and the prisoners. In a short period of time,. The prisoners became hostile and sought to start a riot in order to free themselves from abuses of the prison guards. In some instances, the issue of role-playing limited to reality of the event, but the ethical issues related to issue of prison corruption became evident in the study. The Stanford Prison Experiment provided some important aspects on how good people can became violent lawbreakers within the orison system. In essence, the ethical and experimental conditions of the Stanford Prison experiment define the corrupting culture of prisons in American society during the early 1970s.