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.
The film, Quiet Rage: The Standard Prison Experiment, shows a real life example of how a person’s thoughts, attitudes, and behavior can be easily altered according to environmental changes. When exposed to changes in social situations, our mindsets and behaviors are easily influenced. In this experiment, male college students were randomly assigned roles as either a prison guard or a prisoner. Although the participants were fully aware that these were only roles and not their true identities, the participants were already experiencing changes in their own behavior by day two. The prisoners began adopting prisoner-like behavior such as rebelling and swearing at the guards as they walked by.
Answers 1. In the beginning I wouldn’t behave that bad, but the longer the thing goes on, the more you get in to the role of being a mean prison guard. I’ve too much of a human compassion to treat people badly, but as I said, the more I get in to the role of being a prison guard the more I surely become meaner. 2. Because maybe they were afraid of the bad guards, that the bad guards would do something bad against them as well if they tried to do something “nice” to the prisoners.
The Stanford Prison Experiment was a mock prison experiment where they had chosen 24 Male Students selected from the 75 who volunteered to join the experiment. They had chosen the 24 Male students “because they had no criminal background, lacked psychological issues and had no major medical conditions. The volunteers agreed to participate for a one to two week period in exchange for $15 a day.” From those 24 Male Students, they were assigned randomly to either be a prisoner or a prison guard. The “Prison” was conducted in the basement of Stanford’s Psychology Department building. The “Prison” had a “yard”, which was the only place in the “prison” where you are outside.
The Zimbardo Prison Study A person actually going insane from participating in a mock prison study! Wow, who would have thought that. In the beginning I think Zimbardo accomplished exactly what he sat out to do; He created a functional prison setting. These boys really had no idea what they had gotten themselves into. 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.
Zimbardo asks why those participants who refused to go any further in their “evil deed” did not go to the aid of the “learner”? He remarks that “… even their disobedience was within the framework of acceptability” (Zimbardo 1973). Observers looking at the experiment in progress could not believe what they were seeing. Eckman proposes an answer. In modern society, people tend to obey others in authority.
To what extent is human nature malleable? Does evil triumph over humanity or does humanity win over evil? The Stanford Prison Experiment, known as one of the most notorious experiments in the study of human psychology, was conducted at Stanford University in 197l. Philip Zimbardo, a psychology professor, and a team of researchers wanted to study the psychological effects of becoming a prisoner or prison guard. Twenty-four undergraduate male students out of over 75 were selected to play randomly assigned roles of prisoners and guards in a mock prison located in the basement of the Stanford psychology building.
They felt that it is better to do nothing, except what the guards told them. They didn’t want, act, or feel anything so they wouldn’t get in trouble. Guards, on the other hand, assumed authority roles to control the prisoners and keep the prison in order. With this loss of normal relationships entailing personal and social connections between everyone included in the experiment, they lost respect for one another. There are some reasons that people voluntarily become prisoners.
But according to the Critique of Anti-Spanking Study, found in Assertive Discipline, "experts do not all agree that spanking is harmful and some believe that mild spanking is a useful form of discipline" (Canter). Also the same study said "72% of people surveyed still find it acceptable to punish a child by spanking them" (Canter). These are very different conclusions than the one found by the other doctors and people asked above. Bringing the reader to the conclusion that all discipline is a form of opinion. Most opinions still lean toward spanking being a form of abuse and that spanking a child is totally unacceptable because striking a young child will not actually teach them to be good.
Sabrina Velez Police & the Community The Lucifer Effect In 1971, psychologist Philip Zimbardo created an experiment that explored the impacts of becoming a prisoner or prison guard; basically someone with authority did to people. Zimbardo was interested in finding out how participants react when placed in a simulated prison environment. The researchers set up a simulated prison in the basement of Stanford University’s psychology building, and then recruited 24 undergraduate students to play the roles of both prisoners and guards. All participants had no criminal background, no psychological issues or medical conditions. They participated for a two-week period with a $15 a day initiative.