This paper will focus on two comparable instances of treatment within a prison atmosphere. One event is the Stanford Prison Experiment which is considered a renowned study conducted at Stanford University in California. The other is the Abu Ghraib prison scandal known for its controversy in 2004 surrounding the treatment of its prisoners during their incarceration there. In this paper I will provide details regarding each and ultimately compare how the abuse is similar to or different from what took place in the Stanford Prison Experiment.
The Stanford Prison Experiment was conducted by psychology professor Dr. Phillip Zimbardo at Stanford University in California in the summer of 1971. The prison setting was constructed in the basement of …show more content…
An article written by William Saletan of Slate argues that personality, race, and supervisor input were all excluded factors during the Stanford Prison Experiment, all of which had an important role on what occurred at Abu Ghraib. The Stanford Experiment included subjects who were judged to be most stable (physically and mentally), most mature, and least involved in anti-social behavior whereas the soldiers at Abu Ghraib “were led by two veteran prison guards, one of whom had received three court orders to stay away from his ex-wife, who said he had thrown her against a wall and had threatened her with guns.” (Saletan, 2004) In terms of race, all of the participants at Stanford were white except one Asian American. At Abu Ghraib conversely, the guards were white and the prisoners foreign to them (Iraqi). Along with this comes a barrier in communication and the ability for both parties to understand one another. This results in frustration as well as a lack of some type of sympathy or compassion to be established. Lastly supervisor input at Stanford came in the form of contact with the outside world in many different forms (visits from friends, family, a priest, public defender, and employees at the University etc.) as well as the option to ultimately leave if one truly wanted. This was obviously not the case to Iraqi prisoners after the
The Stanford Prison Experiment was conducted by psychology professor Dr. Phillip Zimbardo at Stanford University in California in the summer of 1971. The prison setting was constructed in the basement of …show more content…
An article written by William Saletan of Slate argues that personality, race, and supervisor input were all excluded factors during the Stanford Prison Experiment, all of which had an important role on what occurred at Abu Ghraib. The Stanford Experiment included subjects who were judged to be most stable (physically and mentally), most mature, and least involved in anti-social behavior whereas the soldiers at Abu Ghraib “were led by two veteran prison guards, one of whom had received three court orders to stay away from his ex-wife, who said he had thrown her against a wall and had threatened her with guns.” (Saletan, 2004) In terms of race, all of the participants at Stanford were white except one Asian American. At Abu Ghraib conversely, the guards were white and the prisoners foreign to them (Iraqi). Along with this comes a barrier in communication and the ability for both parties to understand one another. This results in frustration as well as a lack of some type of sympathy or compassion to be established. Lastly supervisor input at Stanford came in the form of contact with the outside world in many different forms (visits from friends, family, a priest, public defender, and employees at the University etc.) as well as the option to ultimately leave if one truly wanted. This was obviously not the case to Iraqi prisoners after the