¶ … Stanford Prison Experiment: a Lesson in the Power of Situation, (Zimbardo, 2007), recounts his development of the Stanford Prison Experiment
However, as the days and hours grew on, it became evident that the guards -- who had almost limitless decisions when it came to handling prisoners, save physically harming them -- were determined to further humiliate and debase the prisoners through borderline violent means. "Guards were granted power to make up and modify rules as they progressed" (Maxfield, 2010), and once the experiment reached stages of days, physical harm became inevitable
The idea in question was whether the social and physical behaviors in prison life was conducted because of the people in the environment or whether the situation in itself applies a general stress of how to react to such an environment. "What happens when you put good people in an evil place?" (Zimbardo
Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment is a prime example of such experimentation on duality, a human experiment that -- akin to Jekyll's testing upon himself -- went dreadfully wrong. The Stanford Prison Experiment sought to explore two types of problems: one was the creation and development of a psychological state within the constructs of a provided physical environment; the other was to observe the perception of a "prison experience" from volunteers with similar character traits, though the volunteers will be split to play different parts (Haney & Zimbardo)
However, five students had been traumatized enough to shirk from the experiment earlier on, and the soldiers were observed to have become cruel enough that the experiment was called to a complete stop, only a mere six days after its initiation. Needless to say this abrupt end to the SPE had been due to its unethical treatment of its volunteers (Schwartz)
Prior to this end, however, Zimbardo notes that a number of the prisoners had exhibited low self-esteem and hopelessness -- one had gone "crazy" after 36 hours as a prisoner, while several more tried to escape. Likewise, the guards had taken it into their heads to continue with their cruel treatment of prisoners, and when the prison experiment was put to a close, several guards were "unhappy" with the situation (Zimbardo)
Shuttleworth (2008) claims that the researcher Zimbardo "wanted show the dehumanization and loosening of social and moral values that can happen to guards immersed in such a situation." The object of the experiment was "to create an experiment that looked at the impact of becoming a prisoner or prison guard," (Cherry, n
The Stanford prison experiment is still talked about today not just because of its findings related to psychology and sociology but also for its implications for research methodology and ethics. Ethical codes related to informed consent arise, as "no one knew what, exactly, they were getting into," (Ratnesar, 2011)
An example of this condition which Conover notes is that relating to drugs, which he tells were not just readily available and easily accessible in prisoners but were most assuredly finding their way into the prison at the impuse of corrupted guards who had been bribed. (Conover, 104)
Clemmer, Himleson indicates, would equate prisoner unity with resistance to the order imposed by guards. (Himelson, 1) To this end, Clemmer would identify the role of the prison guard as an isolated figure deep in enemy territory, essentially working to undermine the culture developed naturally by its inhabitants
Still, there is the problematic notion of prisonization, which Clemmer discusses in relation to the prisoner, but which we may consider here as a threat to those guards which too vigorously embrace the culture defined by the prisoners. (Manes, 1) Such is to say that the simplification of the prisoner as an object without distinct characteristics or nuances of action may suggest that the prison guard is incapable of bending the rules to the appropriate and survivable degree
To an extent, Smith suggests, there may even be a sense in the subject that he or she must work to please individuals presenting themselves as authorities. (Smith, 4) In Milgram's experiments, subjects show a willingness to administer increasingly lethal currents of electricity to unseen test-takers, in the event of a wrong answer
01 Institutional Approval When institutional approval is required, psychologists provide accurate information about their research proposals and obtain approval prior to conducting the research. They conduct the research in accordance with the approved research protocol" (http://www.apa.org, 2015)
"In most countries as part of the registration process inmates will be given an ID number, which will be connected to their name and all known aliases. From that point onwards all internal and external communication will be addressed using that ID number" (Imprintsfutures.org, 2015)
It also provides a further look into situational power, how it involves uncertainty of role boundaries. "Because situational power is often confounded with sociocultural group status, the cognitive biases of individuals who hold positions of relative situational power also serve to maintain existing social stratification…during interactions between members of stigmatized and nonstigmatized groups members of dominant groups are more often in power" (Richeson & Ambady, 2003, p