Another part of the experiment that took the researchers by surprise was the fact that the guards and prisoners taking on the roles. It was almost a game of who could get the best of the other. Although there was no physical harm as per the consent form, they still adapted to the roles quicker than expected. It even states in the book, “Acting authoritatively can be fun. Power can be a great pleasure.” The guards started off with name-calling which quickly turned into making the prisoners do push ups.
In the Stanford Prison Experiment and the events with occurred at Abu Ghraib, the guards weren’t trained to be guards of any sort. The guards weren’t given set of rules to of how to detain the prisoners; therefore, they were to be creative in regards of doing their job effectively. In both situations, the guards resorted to sadistic and inhumane forms of torture to keep the prisoners in place. The guards didn’t have any history of psychological problems or violence prior, but it’s shocking what type of measures the guards went to because of their environment and power trip. For the prisoners, they became depressed, psychologically distraught, dehumanized, and powerless.
In 1971, a psychologist named Phillip Zimbardo had the idea to hold an experiment that would study the impact of becoming a prisoner or a guard at a prison. Zimbardo’s main focus was to expand on Milgram’s study of situational behaviors. A newspaper ad was put out asking for volunteers to be in a psychological study. Those that responded were picked up at their homes as if they were being arrested. They were completely convinced that they were actually being arrested.
Without rewards to those who did not use steroids it sent a message that players could use them and would not be severely punished. It is the responsibility as a leader and manager to set the example of what is right and wrong. Had the government not stepped in, this issue would have been even larger. This organization did not present proper ethics of business in its management. Also this type of leadership caused the players to keep everything secret and few were willing to step outside the bubble and say what was going
- Any aggression must have been due to deindividuation. However, perhaps the guards were acting to roll how they were expected to act or how they expected other guards to act NOT deindividuation. After the experiment one guard said he was trying to fulfil the confrontational roll of a warden he had watched in the film ‘Cool Hand Luke’. – demand characteristics. - Also, you cannot assume deindividuation automatically leads to aggression e.g.
Baumrind said that the subject’s safety and self-esteem weren’t protected. She also concluded that the subjects didn’t get the respect that they deserved because the experimenter was not concerned about the subject’s welfare (Baumrind 330). Baumrind also feels that the experiment was unethical because Milgram did not tell the subjects everything about the experiment. Hiding information from the subjects caused her to believe that the subject and the experimenter relationship was violated. Most of the subjects discovered they were more likey to obey authority figures than they might have expected and most went through a type of self-discovery.
Dear Cal, I am not writing you this letter as an apology because I am not sorry for all that I have done to people in the past. This is just an explanation of why I have done all I have. But I’ll be honest; I still don’t understand some things myself. I am not entirely sure whether I was born with this evil inside me or whether it was my choice. My upbringing did not seem to be a likely place to foster dissent and animosity in a young girl.
In an effort to make this experiment as real as possible, the college students were picked up by a police officer, read their rights and formally arrested, while neighbors watched in disbelief. Upon booking prisoners experienced a loss of control for their own lives. These events made them feel dehumanized, helpless and fearful. After prisoners made it to their cell and the study truly began some prisoners were made to feel
Prison Gangs Dealing with prison gangs is a task that is not easily rectified by prison staff. New and techniques to get messages from gang members inside prison to their counterparts outside prison walls is ever changing. Just when you think you have figured out how they are communicating to each other, gang members come up with new and alternate means to get the message out. This is not only true to gangs with members on the outside, but with gangs that are entirely made up of inmates as well. One possible way to deal with the growing problem of prison gangs and the violence that is often associated with them is to identify members and keep them separated (Demsky, 2009).
The realistic feel of the experiment lead to the "good guards" not standing up to the other guards. Also, fear of the "John Wayne" and being ganged up on by all the guards probably made it scarier to think about standing up, when they would have no one to back them up. In addition, everyone was so deep into their roles, even the sociologists probably wouldn't have helped or done anything at that point. 4. If I was a prisoner, I don't think I could handle it.