How Does Zimbardo's Experiment Cause Violent Behavior

Zimbardo’s experiment solicited young men to spend two weeks in a simulated prison experience. The men who were responded were divided into prison guards and prisoners. The prisoners were treated as such, they were arrested, fingerprinted and sent to the simulated jail. According to the experiment with in a few days upon video observations the men began to crack under the pressure of the harsh treatments, such as cleaning the toilets with their bare hands. The experiment was ended abruptly due to the mental and physical anguish caused by torture they received from the guards.

Many felt this experiment was unethical. No one knew how this was going to play out. The treatment the prisoners received in the study was de-humanizing. The study concluded that it’s not the prisoner with bad behavior, but being in prison can cause violent behavior. In some ways, I feel this can be accurate, simply because when one is being treated in barbaric ways, humans have that flight or fight response. In the beginning, it appears the men were fighting back. As time passed and the harassment became worse, and eventually some had to be removed from the study …show more content…
our prison systems are not perfect, but at the same time I think there are some criminals who just don’t care about anything. Also with in the U.S alone many people who sit in prison suffer from mental illness, without proper treatment, therefore limiting successful rehabilitation. In Texas, many of the prison’s do not have air conditioning and human rights groups have been fighting to change this. At times temperatures can reach over 100 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer time. I don’t think it is possible to repeat this experiment, at least not accurately. I feel we should focus more on how men women and even children end up here and what we can do to change it. Also, if there comes to time to be reintroduced into society setting them up with the fundamental tools to be productive members of