Stanford Prison Experiments

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golly
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Stanford Prison Experiments

Post by golly »

It is interesting to note that the organizer of it shut down the Stanford Prison Experiments after 5 days (instead of 2 full weeks) due to mock "prisoners" having emotional breakdowns within just a couple days, and mock "guards" forcing prisoners to perform mock sexual acts and so on. He even regrets that he allowed it to continue a couple days after the first big problems appeared 36 hours into the experiment.

The experiment seems like a minor case of abuse of power, in the sense that the researcher Philip Zimbardo admits that he should not have played two roles: as research investigator and as mock "prison supervisor". But also, it is rather amazing that in the interest of "psychology" such abuses are permitted in apparently perfectly legal ways. There was even an emotional explosion between him and his partner in front of the Psychology Department in which she said, according to Zimbardo, "Come to your senses [...] You have been changed by the situation." He ended the experiment the following day.

Another weird source of the conflicts that appeared could have been the driving force of money. $15 hourly wages were earned for each mock prisoner and mock prison guard. The students apparently removed the "costumes" after the study was ended, and all went home and moved on, but the repercussions on the observers was profound and disturbing.

The experiment leader claims that the children were "normal in every way" and he did not expect the guards to abuse their power so quickly. However, possibly the most disturbing aspect is that such an experiment was even considered "necessary" to show that people are subject to identifying with negative or dramatic roles.

In some sort of interesting redemptive role, Zimbardo then created a new study about heroism and how to help others in need. He decided to make lessons based on psychology and humor in order to try to get high schools and corporations to distribute materials about the possibility of imagining becoming heroes and to embody heroism.

Source: Interview with Zimbardo

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