Zimbardo and Burger

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Elliott 1 Elijah Elliott Mrs. Rogers Writing Comp 2 28 March 2012 Zimbardo and Burger In 1973 Philip G. Zimbardo conducted “The Standford Prison Experiment”. Male college students were recruited in for this procedure. This experiment revealed very interesting phenomena regarding obedience and authority. Another example that revealed aspects of obedience and authority followed nearly four decades after when Jerry M. Burger conducted a replica of “The Milgram Experiment”. Zimbardo and his piece “The Standford Prison Experiment” and Burger who wrote, “Replicating Milgram: Would people still obey today?” are both famous for conducting experiments that tested obedience and authority. Although these experiments are very similar in ways there is also a big difference between them. When Zimbardo conducted his experiment he studied behavioral roles of prisoners and guards in prison. Specifically his main intention was to study the life of prisoners and guards in prison. The experiment was designed like this: Zimbardo offered fifteen dollars a day and only recruited twenty-one college students to take place in the procedure. Each student was assigned role either a prisoner or a guard and was to play this role for two weeks (Zimbardo 732). There were no changes in variables throughout this experiment were that each prison had sixteen rules and had to be able to recite those rules at any given time. If the prisoner did not follow the rules they were set to be punished (Zimbardo 733). Elliott 2 As the results began to develop throughout this experiment Zimbardo began to realize that each student, over time, began to assume and truly believe they were the role they were assigned. An example of this phenomenon Guard G stated “I was really surprised myself… I made them call each other names and clean the toilets out with their bare hands. I
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