Zimbardo 's Theory Of Social Psychology

Dr Philip Zimbardo created the Stanford prison experiment in 1971, the aim of this experiment was to find out the psychological effects of prison life, and to what extent can moral people be seduced to act immorally. The study consisted of 24 students selected out of 75, the roles of these 24 men were randomly assigned, 12 to play prison guards and 12 to play prisoners. The prison set up was built inside the Stanford’s psychological department, doors where taken of laboratory rooms and replaced with steel bars in order to create cells. At the end of the corridor was the small opening which became the solitary confinement for the ‘bad prisoners’. Throughout the prison there were no windows or clocks to judge the passage in time, which resulted in time distorting experiences. After only a few hours, the participants adapted to their roles well beyond expectations, the officers starting

Another issue in Zimbardo’s experiment was in the treatment of the prisoners. The guards would curse at the prisoners and force them to ridiculous and arbitrary tasks such as forcing them to pick thorns out of their blankets which the guards had dragged through the bushes (737). Even the prisoners would make detrimental remarks about their fellow prisoners (737). The extreme actions taken by the guards resulted in some prisoners developing anxiety symptoms, one symptom even exhibiting itself in a psychosomatic rash when one prisoner’s parole was rejected by the parole board (738). The American Psychological Association makes it very clear on this type of behavior in their code of ethics they state that “any direct or indirect participation in any act of torture or other forms of cruel, degrading or inhuman treatment or punishment by psychologists is strictly prohibited. There are no exceptions.”

In Maria Konnikova’s “The Real Lesson of the Stanford Prison Experiment” she reveals what she believes to be the reality of sociologist Philip Zimbardo’s controversial study: its participants were not “regular” people.

Social psychologist, Philip Zimbardo, has lead one of the most infamous experiments in the modern history with the Stanford Prison Experiment. The immense popularity of the experimental research on situational power, although having cultivated great recognition, has overshadowed the multiple contributions and accomplishments that Zimbardo continues to assume in his lifetime. Many of Zimbardo’s recognitions have been brought upon due to the Stanford Prison Experiment, yet in this paper will extensively examine Zimbardo’s psychological career from the beginning to the current date to recognize his notable influence in the field of Psychology, specifically the field of Social Psychology. This brief review of Zimbardo’s lengthy career will include various facts and personal accounts of Zimbardo’s regarding his life and work. Zimbardo’s lifetime of work has mainly focused and researched the multiple flaws of human’s beings, and it’s through his findings that society is truly able to progress forward positively. Zimbardo’s long career exemplifies that of an unrestricted devotion; he has and still works to better society through its various flaws, making him undoubtably impactful.

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.

The Stanford Prison Experiment was a study conducted by Phillip Zimbardo to better understand how people will react if put into an evil setting, and if we as humans, would allow it to consume us, or overcome it with our moral values and obligations. 24 participants were selected to participate out of the 70 volunteers. Before the experiment began, Zimbardo randomly selected students, either as “Prison Guards” or “Prisoners”. Zimbardo expected it to be a boring study that would last one to two weeks, but soon realized he would need to end the experiment within six days.

The participants in the “Zimbardo Prison study” had several negative effects. The prisoners suffered mental breakdowns in which they began crying, yelling, and screaming. The guards were consumed in their power and had no compassion for the prisoners in which they stripped, beat, and dehumanized them. The experiment was supposed to last for 14 days but only lasted for six because of the severe effects the prisoners were experiencing. Zimbardo became too involved in the experiment and was not making appropriate decisions to protect those involved in the experiment. The guards were too immersed in their power roles to realize they were hurting the prisoners. Zimbardo’s honesty was compromised and was not of an appropriate experiment conductor. The mental effects of

The Stanford Prison Experiment was a classic study conducted by Dr. Philip Zimbardo to test whether external factors in the environment can influence a person to behave contrary to their dispositional tendencies. Zimbardo wanted to know what happens to a person who is “good” in an evil place. More specifically, he wanted to see if institutions such as a prison has the power to control a persons behavior or if their good nature rises above the negative environment.

The Stanford Prison experiment was conducted by Philip Zimbardo and his associates, David Jaffe, Craig Haney, Curtis Banks and Carlo Prescott. The experiment began in 1971 and was located in the Stanford Psychology department’s basement, converted into a makeshift simulated prison able to hold 24 male participants who were interviewed and randomly sorted into guard and prisoner roles (McLeod). The experiment was initially conducted to further understand “interpersonal dynamics in a simulated prison” (Haney, Banks, Zimbardo) meaning the way individual persons react

In 1971, psychologist Philip Zimbardo and his colleagues set out to create an experiment that looked at the impact of becoming a prisoner or prison guard. Known as the Stanford Prison Experiment, the study went on to become one of the best-known in psychology's history. Philip Zimbardo, a former classmate of Stanley Milgram who is best-known for his famous obedience experiment, was interested in expanding upon Milgram's research. The study has value because what they were trying to come to the conclusion whether prison chance the person behavior or not.

A brief description of the experiment and its purpose. Zimbardo was intent in disovering whether the cruelty reported amongst Americain guards in prisons was because of thesadistic natures of the guards or influenced by the prison atmosphere. Zimbardo decided to convert the psychology building basement of Standford University into mock prison in order to study the roles a individuals would play in a prison environment. He recruited 21 male college students, who were screened for psychological normality and compensated $15 per day, to take part in the 14-day experiment as pretend prisoners and guards.

The Stanford prison experiment of 1971 was a major game changer in the psychology field. This study was cause for all new ethical principles to be set in place for any study that where to take place after the Stanford prison experiment. Dr. Philip Zimbardo, a professor at the university, created a prison-like environment held in the basement of the psychology building at Stanford University. Two groups of young men were divided into roles; one group were prisoners while the other group served as the guards. This experiment was meant to last two weeks, however only after six days the experiment had been terminated.

The Stanford Prison experiment was conducted in 1971 by Philip Zimbardo. Zimbardo is a social psychologist at Stanford University, and has been for over 50 years. The study took place to determine the emotional and psychological effects that took place people placed as prisoners or guards. This experiment was a success because it brought out different, extreme changes in both groups of participants. One of the main problems with the experiment was how successful it was, when prisoners started to exhibit severe emotional distress and other abnormal behavior and, guards began to become extremely violent with the amount of power they had. Another problem was the morality of the experiment as a whole. When Dr. Christina Maslach

Zimbardo has written many books about social psychology, which is the study of human behaviors and the social situation. I learned about Zimbardo in my Psychology 100 class. He was born on March 23, 1933, and is still alive to this day. His studies and experiments are what influenced me to go into the field of psychology. Zimbardo is a crucial social psychologist because of his prison experiment, which led to unique discoveries.

This experiment was first designed to investigate how people “would conform to the roles of guard and prisoner in a role-playing exercise that simulated prison life” (Mcleod 1). Zimbardo was interested in learning about whether the brutality in the prisons was because of the behavior of the guards towards the prisoners or if it was because of the prison environment. He beginned his experiment by placing an ad in the newspaper calling out for males that were willing to be part of the experiment, 70 individuals answered the ad. Every individual had to go through a background check to check for mental issues or past drug or alcohol use. In the end only 24 students were chosen (McLeod). The “prisoners’ were treated just like they would be treated at a your average prison. Half of the 24 students that were selected were prisoners and the other half were the guards. The guards had no specific direction as to how to treat the prisoners, “Guards were instructed to do whatever they thought was necessary to maintain law and order in the prison and to command the respect of the prisoners. No physical violence was permitted” Mcleod 11). As the days went on the prison began to seem and become more like a real life one was. The guards began to become more aggressive in order to maintain control over the inmates. Some of the prisoners began to show early signs of depression by the third day. Although the experiment was supposed to go on for a longer period of time, it had to be cancelled on the sixth day.This concluded that “People will readily conform to the social roles they are expected to play, especially if the roles are as strongly stereotyped as those of the prison guards” (Mcleod