Fear Of Prisons

If I was a guard, I believe that I would have become a guard who is oppressive, but not to the point of physically injuring the inmate. I believe that I would adopt a behavior of oppressing the inmates because I would be fearful that the inmates would feel power in numbers against me without my constant threats, but I would recognize that my role as a guard is not real, thus I would not physically abuse the inmates. However, I am unsure whether if my idealistic morals will still remain intact once I actually engage in the experiment. Like in the actual experiment, I cannot guarantee if the inmates will actually be submissive under my rule or if the inmates will plan a rebellious uprising. My fear of the inmates and my desire for power will …show more content…
If I was a prisoner in the same exact situation, I would not have been able to endure the experience. First, the humiliation that the prisoners suffered such as the stripping of clothes and abuse would already cause me to feel degraded, especially since I would recognize that the situation is a simulated environment rather than a real prison. As a result, I would feel a sense of oppression and a loss of pride when the “guards” degrade me, because subconsciously, I recognize that these “guards” are not doing committing these demeaning actions as an actual job, but are simply students. In order to avoid confrontation, I will attempt to be as obedient as possible. Since the guards typically punished prisoners who did not obey their orders, I believe that by staying as compliant as possible, the guards would not feel the need or reason to punish me. Therefore, unlike the subjects in the actual Stanford Prison Experiment, I would not participate in …show more content…
I believe that after the study, when the prisoners and guards are able to be back in their normal, casual clothes and when the simulated jail returns back to a laboratory, the prisoners would feel more embarrassed while the guards would feel ashamed. The prisoners would still be reminded of the traumatic memories and their experience of the loss of pride despite the prison being reconverted to a basement laboratory. On the other hand, I believe that once the guards were reminded that the whole situation was simply an experiment and that the prisoners were just regular people like them, they will feel guilty and ashamed of their demeaning