Abu Ghraib And The Stanford Prison Experiment

Decent Essays
When it comes to the Abu Ghraib prison and the Stanford Prison Experiment the competing valued were at stake. For the Stanford prison experiment it was based on a study that was conducted to determine psychology of imprisonment.
This experience was a simulation experiment that was carried out at the Stanford University. During the experiment it was ended after 6 days instead of the 14 days because the students weren't able to bear the simulated prison life. During the experience the student became depressed while the guards had become the cruel and heartless. The prisoners were embreassed and humiliated by the guards. As for the Abu Ghraib prison human rights were violated by the American military personnel during the
Operation Iraqi

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The Stanford Prison Experiment was a proposed two-week experiment that turned into a six day nightmare. “The original intent was to study whether the behavior of prisoners and guards was dispositional or situational” (McLeod, 2008). However, what they got out of the experiment was a “situation in which prisoners were withdrawing and behaving in pathological ways” and where some of the guards “were behaving sadistically” (Zimbardo). The Stanford Prison Experiment is one of the most controversial studies ever conducted in the “history of social psychology” (Konnikova, 2015). The results of this experiment show the truth of how absolute power corrupts absolutely, why good people do bad things, and how it can be applied to real life situations (Dalberg-Acton).…

    • 465 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Abu Ghraib Prison share the same hypothesis with the Milgram and Zimbardo experiment which it was ''obedience to authority''. The soldiers in the video were following orders to make the prisoners talk at all cost. This kind of behavior is not new, we frequently hear that soldiers use none traditional methods to accomplish the mission. Another similarity to the Milgram and the Zimbardo experiment is that the soldiers were not willing to stand up to the authorities figures in this case the CIA or other government authorities. Training was another of the similarities that the Zimbardo and the Abu Ghraid had in common as well.…

    • 230 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Zimbardo Evaluation

    • 1774 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Abu Ghraib held one of the most notorious prisons whereby executions, torture and appalling living conditions existed. Abu Ghraib became a U.S. military prison for criminals after its original regime collapsed. To much concern, after America had taken over this prison and replaced all of its inmates, Major General Antonio M. Tuguba found that there were numerous cases of abuse at Abu Ghraib. These illegal instances of abuse were actioned by members of the American intelligence community (Hersh, 2004). This displays that the Americans level of authority over those in Abu Ghraib may have been due trying to conform to their role of power.…

    • 1774 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Abu Ghraib Experiment

    • 1596 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The factors that led to the torture of the detainees have not only been seen in the Iraqi prison. As demonstrated by Milgrim’s experiment, obedience to authority even to a fault is a widespread phenomenon. Zimbardo’s experiment showed conditions much like those in the real prison that led to violence as they did in the real prison. The actions of those guards at Abu Ghraib have been seen before and will be seen again because the factors are still present. In many social orders, obedience is a highly valued virtue.…

    • 1596 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In 1971, an experiment took place in Stanford, California. It was named the Stanford Prison Experiment, lasting what was meant to be two weeks, but due to the brutality of the trial, lasted a mere 6 days. Its purpose was to conduct a study on humanity and show just how evil a human can get when given a position of power. To summarize the experiment, a random 18 men were chosen, all innocent, good people who’d never committed a crime. They were divided into two groups erratically: 9 being “prisoners” and 9 being “guards.”…

    • 1004 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Now, as the book progresses on, Zimbardo launches into his experiment which to me is quite interesting and impressive. In this experiment, Zimbardo is wanting to prove that in certain situations, normal good people can turn into perpetrators of evil who commit such behaviors. He calls this, “The Stanford Prison experiment” in which normal individuals were assigned to prisoners and guards as a test of psychology of imprisonment. After having done this, Zimbardo became witness to an extreme number of high levels of unpredicted cruelty. Upon further reading about this case, I must say that I was left surprised by the result as well.…

    • 356 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Stanford prison experiment was an experiment held between August 14th and went all the way up until August 20th. In this experiment, a psychology professor named Philip Zimbardo attempts to form a model prison where he would select participants to either be guards or prisoners. The participants were interviewed, and the ones chosen were randomly assigned their roles of being either prisoners, or guards. The model prison was created in the basement of Stanford University, and it was meant to act as a replica to a real prison. This experiment was meant to show the participants what it would really feel like to live in a prison.…

    • 1045 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Report on the Stanford Prison Experiment for PSYC 1111 The Office of Naval Research sponsored a study at Stanford University to "develop a better understanding of the basic psychological mechanisms underlying human aggression" and to identify which conditions can lead to aggression when men are living in close quarters for a long period of time (Haney, C., Banks, W.C. & Zimbardo, P.G. (1973)). This experiment took form within a model prison created in the basement at Stanford University to discover the variables found in prisons that can lead to aggression in people, i.e. guards and prisoners. The hypothesis explored was that ‘guards’ and ‘prisoners’ would react in different ways and their behavior and state of being would differ from each…

    • 963 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Stanford Prison Experiment What prevented "good guards" from objecting or countermanding the orders from tough or bad guards? The good guards were unable to object or countermand the bad guards because of the fear of what it would do to the guards’ authoritative role in the eyes of the prisoners. If they showed disunity as guards the prisoners could take advantage of the unstructured and create chaos within the walls of the prison. By objecting to the bad guards, they take the risk of the prisoners not taking the guards orders seriously.…

    • 1004 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    I am against human experimentation. Many human experiments are psychological, though some are physical, both usually causing damage to the body and/or state of mind. My first point being the Stanford Prisoner experiment that took place in 1973. Psychiatrist, Philip Zimbardo chose 24 out of 75 undergraduates and randomly assigned them roles as guards and prisoners in a mock prison on campus. They adapted to their roles within a manner of days,1/3 of the 'guards' began to show agressive and sadistic tendencies towards the 'prisoners', while the 'prisoners' grew submissive and obedient tomares the 'guards'.…

    • 276 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Stanford Prison Experiment Does giving one person more power than another really change the way that they will react in a certain situation? Do certain circumstances cause a different reaction in different people? That was the question for the Stanford Prison Experiment performed by Phil Zimbardo in 1971. In an attempt to show what life was like to be in prison, the inmates and guards of Stanford County Jail, were placed in an almost inhumane setting. The tyranny of the men in charge, along with the abuse of the inmates, goes to show how people that are placed in an environment and told to play roles that they are not necessarily familiar with, can go wrong.…

    • 885 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    This piece is an outline of the Stanford Prison Experiment. To start the collection of resources, I decided to choose one that would most benefit someone unfamiliar with the Stanford Prison Experiment. It covers the general idea and procedure of the social experiment. I wanted my first source to be completely objective and to give anyone unfamiliar with the experiment an overview. This article would benefit a student writing a synthesis because it provides objective, straightforward facts.…

    • 1748 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Stanford Prison Experiment was unlike any other experiment. It was supposed to be an experiment on how people would conform to the roles of guards and prisoners in a role-playing exercise. Over 70 students applied for the aid, but only 25 was selected and they would get paid 15 dollars a day for their participation in the experiment. They took the 25 college students from the university and turn half of them into guards and the other half into prisoners. The Abu Graib situation was way different in my opinion.…

    • 1432 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This experiment went wrong and led to mental problems. These problems became so extreme that the experiment was discontinued after 6 days instead of 2 weeks. The Stanford Prison Experiment called into question the idea of Good vs Evil. The experiment showed how situational journey can cause an individual to “compromise” their beliefs. This change in behavior lead to psychological conflict among the “guards” and “prisoners.”…

    • 869 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Stanford Prison Experiment conducted by Phillip Zimbardo (1972) gave us notable understandings into human behaviour, even though considered an unethical study. In the scandalous experiment, a group of participants completed a study in a mock prison environment. Some of the participants took on the role of prisoner, and others acted as the guards. The guards behaved in an inhumane and demeaning way towards the participants acting as prisoners. They were not given full details e.g. on what to expect and how to behave.…

    • 931 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays