Zimbardo's Prison Environment

Since the Bureau of Prisons sold the Cibola County Correctional Center to a private company, there have been reports that the prison has accumulated the most repeat significant deficiencies in health services than any other federal prison currently in operation. The prison is set to close in October.

Likewise Zimbardo’s (1971) experiment, studying the way ‘prisoners’ and ‘guards’ interacted, demonstrated similar ethical failings, such as consent gained without individuals being made fully aware of the involvements; physical, emotional and psychological harm subjected; violation of rights, including privacy, respect, confidentiality and the ability to withdraw (). Fascinated by the volume of ordinary individuals who executed terrible things to others during WWII, Zimbardo predicted that all people, even the good, had the potential to conduct malevolence when sited in the correct environment (Haney et al, 1973). In a mock prison participants were recruited to play a role, half as prisoners and the rest as guards. Both were dressed accordingly, with the guards wearing a uniform with mirrored sunglasses which promotes anonymity as their emotions are obscured, but yet denotes their position of power and authority. According to Zimbardo (2000) these ‘conditions of deindividuation’ allow for the facilitation of evil. Subsequently it becomes acceptable to enforce measures which degrade prisoners of their self-respect, including being stripped, deloused and ordered to carry a chain around their ankle, whilst the mandatory wearing of a smock and a cap made from a stocking demoralized them as it impacted upon their masculinity. Additionally, not only were prisoners assigned a number by which they were referred to, denying them of their identity, but each area of their daily

New Life Prison is a private prison located in an unincorporated area of Brentwood, CA New Life prison is a dormitory setting and a minimum security prison for level one and two male inmate population of 500. New Life Prison is too focused on lowering the recidivism rate in CA. New Life prison is a new private prison and receives funding from grants and donations. New Life mission is to focus on the level one and two inmate’s within the state prison system. New Life mission is to help these individuals move on passed the crime they have committed and began to live their life again. In 2004 Folsom state prison was able to move their level one and two inmates to a minimum security facility (Department of Correction 2015). Most of these inmates

It was not a topic that was brought up earlier, because there was tainted history of using biology to figure logistics of criminal behavior. Instead, criminologists look at social and environmental factors such as poverty rates, drug/weapon accessibility, and socialization. Over 100 studies have shown genes play a role in crime. Kevin Beaver, an associate professor at Florida State University’s College of Criminology and Criminal Justice states approximately 50 percent of a human’s aggressive behavior is comprised of the thousands of expressed genes affected by the environment (Cohen). The other half of a human’s aggressive behavior is usually environmental or social factors such as, neighborhood, wealth, and education. It is important to also know the other factors that “make” someone a criminal because it will also help researcher see what else contributes to criminal activity (Eysenck).

In today’s progressive and scientifically advanced world, new studies have occurred that explain how aggression in children can be easily understood. In Alison Gopnik’s article, “Aggression in Children Makes Sense- Sometimes,” she explained how recent scientific experiments have proven that children’s genes and environments, make an impact on their behavior. As human beings, it is hard to decipher the actual cause of aggression in fellow humans because we have not found any accurate evidence until now. Gopnik sufficiently conveys that recent scientific evidence has proven that aggression in children can make sense, by using the results of scientific studies to support her point, and by also using an essential metaphor to further explain a complicated subject.

Adrien Brody (Travis) and Forest Whittaker (Michael) star in The Experiment, a film that features a group of men who have volunteered and been chosen for a psychological experiment. In the experiment the 26 men are split up into prison guards and inmates. Travis is selected as a prisoner while Michael is picked to be a guard. A set of strict rules are put into place and if at any time the rules are broken the "experiment" is over and the men will not receive their reward of $14,000 for participating. As the movie progresses things move rather quickly and as most people would probably assume, guards begin to feel like they're better than the prisoners and have all of the power. This leads to the humiliation of the prisoners at the hands of the guards. In the final act Travis leads a

In 1971, a Stanford University psychology professor named Philip Zimbardo and a team of researchers conducted an unorthodox study involving 24 male college students who would later be convinced that they were prison inmates and prison guards in less than 24 hours. This study was voluntarily cut short after only six days due to the unexpected results which were found.

This paper serves to summarize The Zimbardo Prison Experiment, better known as The Stanford Prison Experiment which was conducted by Phillip Zimbardo in 1971 at Stanford University. The purpose of the study was to conduct research in order to better understand the psychological components of human aggression and submission to include conformity and obedience in a prison environment with a select group of subjects playing roles as either prison guards or inmates, however, I should note, according to McLeod, S. (2016), The Navy’s intent or purpose for the experiment was to better understand how to train members of the armed forces on how to cope with stress associated with captivity as opposed to making American Prison systems more humane. Another interesting point of note is that Zimbardo conducted this experiment shortly after World War II, and the Vietnam War where concern was raised as to some of the atrocities carried out in those wars where “ordinary” people conducted heinous acts per instruction from so-called authoritative figures. Experiments with similar objectives were carried out by Stanley Milgram and others. (Jones, A. D., & Milgram, S. 1974)

the same concept applies to prisons when a inmate is sentenced to grow from his past non socially acceptable behavior in a cesspool of violence, corruption and unknown danger . The SPE observation showed systemic selection procedures ensured that everyone going into their 'prison' were normal average and healthy as possible and had no prior history of any social behavior, crime or violence. Despite the artificiality of the controlled experimental research, the data recorded captured the central psychological features of imprisonment that Zimbardo believed to be central to a prison experience. So with that being said, the individuals that were confined to the negative environment, previously unknown to them unintenally provoked survival measures by altering their mindsets to perform sadistically and malicious in order to escape or just receive more humane treatment from the guards. the fact with this is that if normal neutral human beings were confined to a prison like experience and turned evil just from the experience what could it do to individuals that have a more radical view of morality ... now in comparison with real prison complex, Someone living there is less likely to be murdered than they would be elsewhere in America. That, however, is where the good news ends. The bad news, of which there is plenty, is that the life the prisoner

In 1971, psychology professor Philip Zimbardo conducted an experiment led by a team of researchers which involved twenty-four male participants who were predominantly white and of the middle class. The goal of the experiment was to test the hypothesis that the inherited personality traits of prison guards and actual prisoners are the main cause of violent and abusive behaviours in prisons. The selection method involved intentionally excluding anybody who had a criminal background, psychological impairment or any medical conditions. The men were paid $15 a day if they all agreed to participate over a 7- to 14- day period. The experiment took place in Stanford University’s Psychology building and upon arrival, the participants were divided into

The news media is responsible for reporting the depressing statistics that relate to the revolving door affect in the prison industry. The majority of felons that are released back into society, return to prison again. Some believe that the reason the felons keep committing crimes and returning to prison is related to the prison industry and the environment in prisons. The prison environment only makes a better felon. Prison is like a training ground for the inmates. They have access to drug gangs in prisons and other internal prison networks that have strong ties to crime in the community. Thus, giving them a way to carry on their illegal activity in prison and after release from the prison system.

Biological Theories have been related to crime for a long time. The Biological Theory talks about how one’s brain has an impact on committing crime or not. Dr. Jim Fallon, a neuroscientist from California talks about the biological influences in a brain. He believes that the combination of three major aspects can determine whether someone is psychopathic or not. Fallon states a combination of genes, damage to the person 's brain and the environment surrounding the individual will have the biggest impact on a person (Fallon, 2009). A real world example of the biological theory in full effect was the crimes of David Berkowitz, aka “Son of Sam. Berkowitz was accused and found guilty of killing over 6 people in New York City. After being convicted and locked up for a few years, studies had shown that Berkowitz had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. Berkowitz also claimed that his neighbor’s dog, Sam had told him to do the killings as well (Biography). Comparing the Biological theory to my own life was pretty simple because there is a genetic factor that runs in my dad’s side and that is tempers. Tempers tend to flare fairly easy, and luckily so far there has no issues with the law, however like Fallon had said, with the right combination, anyone is possible to commit a crime at any time. I feel like in a biological theory, this would have a major impact on my life

I came across this topic because I am interested in unusual portrayals of people in society and I have been fascinated by this controversial theory of Nature vs. Nurture which considers whether a person is brought up in a particular way to conceive aggressive behaviour or if it is the psychopathic traits inherited.

However, while the overstimulation of the Id and the failure to acquire and develop the the Ego and SuperEgo leads to criminal tendencies, while aggression may be out of adaptive values, and while genetic studies have pointed towards the influence of genes and criminal behaviour, these theories alone are insufficient to account for crime. Evolutionary theory does not explain or predict for the extreme degrees of aggression in individuals nor has the genetic theory proven for 100% heritability; which raises the need for us to examine the Nurture camp of crime theories as well.

Is how aggressive an individual is determined only by his or her genes? Whether psychological and behavioral traits are purely determined by genetics, solely influenced by socialization, or a combination of both has been a highly debated topic within the field of psychology known as the “nature-nurture issue.” Today, although still disputed, a good number of psychologists and other scientists concur that genetics and the environment mutually influence and intermingle with one another (Myers, 2015). We can partially credit this fizzling-out of the nature-nurture debate to the discoveries made in twin studies. Twin studies are used to help delineate the genetic components of behavior and the socially and culturally influenced components (Myers, 2015). This type of study enables researchers to examine the extent to which genetics and environment have an effect on the development of traits and behavior. For example, in lecture, we learned that a common and natural experiment used in twin studies is to examine a set of twins who grew up in the same household and a set twins who grew up in separate households (K.W. Brown, personal communication, August 29, 2017).