Chaos Experiment Vs. The Sanford Prison Experiment

Decent Essays
Before reading the chapter 4, I actually watched a movie that was very similar to the Sanford Prison Experiment. I think it was called Chaos Experiment; I thought it was very interesting. Chapter 4, pp 103 explained that the Sanford Prison Experiment was actually a procedure method that involved college men who volunteered to either be a guard or evil prisoners. The purpose of the experiment was to see if guards are the cause to a violent prison or if the prisoners are the cause of a violent prison.

Being this is a discussion based off what we elevated, I believe the experiment was observational and there were independent variable and dependent variables. The college men were randomly selected for their role by a flip of a coin which was

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

    Then I would fight back and lead the prisoners to the warden’s/superintendent’s office where we would then ask for a change of how the prison was being carried out. This again is because of the balance, if one respects the guards they will respect you and leave you alone most of the time. However, if there was a sadist in the group then the balance is upset and it si time for an uprising. If the experiment was made to measure just the psychological effects of becoming a guard or a prisoner, I would say the experiment was relatively successful. However, we never really get to see for sure if things would’ve stayed this way in the long run, or if things would change throughout a guard’s or prisoner’s…

    • 479 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    What happens when good people are put in an evil place? What about when innocent individuals are systematically punished and humiliated? Is human identity rooted in one 's situation? A 1971 endeavor, now known as Zimbardo 's Prison Experiment, attempted to explore these questions and others.…

    • 803 Words
    • 4 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
  • Decent Essays

    The Stanford Prison Experiment The Stanford Prison Experiment is unethical and inhuman. It is also evidently a product of poor decision-making. If the scholar involved had considered using two individuals to take the roles of primary experimenter and prison superintendent, the experiment would not have advanced to the levels it did. Moreover, this independent individual would have interfered with the direction the experiment was taking.…

    • 312 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This experiment help prisoners receive their basic rights and shed a light on prison guards abusing…

    • 861 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A few good men Comparative Analysis Obedience to authority is something that is drilled into almost every child in almost every culture. We've been taught to always obey your elders, and always listen to the directions given. All throughout school you’ve been made to not question the system or what the teachers tell you. This contributes to later on in the life of military personnel, who are made into soldiers with blinding loyalty.…

    • 1112 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The experiment started off with the volunteers adopting their roles quickly and easily, with guards exercising control, and the prisoners being compliant. Soon, the prisoners began adopting realistic behavior where they would abandon their solidarity and seek to benefit from other inmates infringements. With the prisoners being dehumanized with pointless orders, insults, boring jobs, and physical punishment (push-ups), it was clear that the guards began to act tyrannical in their environment. On the mere second day, there was a rebellion. Prisoners ripped off their numbers and barricaded their doors to seek protection and distance to insult and mock the guards.…

    • 840 Words
    • 4 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
  • Great Essays

    They began tormenting the prisoners, subjecting them to humiliating tasks, as well as verbal and physical punishments. The abuse quickly became so severe that Zimbardo prematurely terminated the study after only six days. The Stanford Prison experiment exemplifies how, given unrestrained power and with the group dynamics of groupthink and group polarization at play, good men can be lead to commit evil actions very…

    • 1635 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great 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
  • Great Essays

    The Stanford Prison Experiment, conducted in 1971 by researcher, Philip Zimbardo is one of the most eye-opening social studies done to this day. It’s purpose was to find out more about how the social principles of obedience and conformity can affect the behavior of a normal human being. Zimbardo wanted to discover how social customs and hierarchy affect the roles people play, in a prison setting (Lurgio, 2015, p.1866). Though their purpose seems praiseworthy, the experiment itself was not. It was filled with ethical violations and in just 6 days, spun out of control (Lurgio, 2015, p.1866).…

    • 1207 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    An independent variable in this research experiment are the girls themselves and…

    • 1431 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