Stanford Prison Experiment
Professor Philip Zimbardo, leader of the Stanford prison experiment considered three questions before initiating one of the most significant experiments to human phycology. He asked; ‘What happens when you put good people in an evil place? Does the situation outside of you come to control your behaviour? Or do the things inside you such as your attitudes, your values and your morality etc. allow you to rise above a negative environment?
The experiment was intended to last two weeks, but was terminated early due to the extreme cases of anxiety within the prisoners and the increasingly violent thirst for power displayed in the guards. It was shocking to witness how quickly the thinking of regular college undergraduates became so distorted.
Zimbardo encouraged the guards to make the prisoners feel like their lives were totally in control by them and to incite powerlessness. He urged them to treat the prisoners with little respect as a way of destroying their individualism. The purpose of the guards’ dominance was to observe how the prisoners would react to having a major lack of authority.
By just the second day the prisoners had started a rebellion and by day three some were showing signs of severe anxiety. This illustrates how quickly people’s minds adapt to new environments of authority and power.
Many would argue however that the most shocking outcome of the experiment was not the fast-tracked distortion of the participants thinking. What was incredible was that even though all the people involved in the experiment were aware it was just a physcological study and not a real prison, each person, including Zimbardo who acted as the prisons super-intendant was hypnotized and blind to the unethical and inhumane values that were unfolding in the experiment. It was as if they were seeing but not processing what evil was developing. It was only once it was brought to Zimbardo’s attention by a colleague that the illusion shattered and he could see the psychological
The experiment was intended to last two weeks, but was terminated early due to the extreme cases of anxiety within the prisoners and the increasingly violent thirst for power displayed in the guards. It was shocking to witness how quickly the thinking of regular college undergraduates became so distorted.
Zimbardo encouraged the guards to make the prisoners feel like their lives were totally in control by them and to incite powerlessness. He urged them to treat the prisoners with little respect as a way of destroying their individualism. The purpose of the guards’ dominance was to observe how the prisoners would react to having a major lack of authority.
By just the second day the prisoners had started a rebellion and by day three some were showing signs of severe anxiety. This illustrates how quickly people’s minds adapt to new environments of authority and power.
Many would argue however that the most shocking outcome of the experiment was not the fast-tracked distortion of the participants thinking. What was incredible was that even though all the people involved in the experiment were aware it was just a physcological study and not a real prison, each person, including Zimbardo who acted as the prisons super-intendant was hypnotized and blind to the unethical and inhumane values that were unfolding in the experiment. It was as if they were seeing but not processing what evil was developing. It was only once it was brought to Zimbardo’s attention by a colleague that the illusion shattered and he could see the psychological