Interactionism and Labelling Theory in the Stanford Social Experiment.
Kelsey Dunstone
Understanding Criminology
University of Adelaide 2016
Regarded as one of the most notorious psychological experiments, the Stanford Prison Experiment, led by Philip Zimbardo, involved a group of 24 young male university students. Zimbardo sought to understand the norms and effects of roles, labels, and social norm expectations within his stimulated prison environment, located in the Stanford university basement. Occurring in August of 1971, the student’s roles were determined by a simple coin toss. The 24 participants, out of 75 applicants, knew only they would be involved as either a prisoner or warden in a makeshift prison for two weeks, earning $15 a …show more content…
It was at this point Zimbardo realised the reality of what was happening and removed himself from his Puppeteer role. The first day of the experiment as one prison guard, Elshman recollects, was “boring”, with guards behaving rationally until he decided to push the limits, and the others followed suit. Interestingly, Elshman admits that he acted this way due to adapting to the ‘warden’ role, and couldn’t have done so if he personally knew anyone outside of the experiment during his daily 8 hour shifts . With prisoners tortured, and guards creating harsher consequences for rebelling prisoners, inmates were rewarded for obedient behaviour with food, beds, uninterrupted sleep, and their makeshift-toilet buckets emptied. In a 1973 review by the American Psychology Association, it was determined that the experiment did not ethically break any rules, though no similar experiment will be conducted in the future . With annual reviews on the participants involved, it was concluded that no participant experienced permanent psychological issues. Although the participants …show more content…
Without directly stating that labelling causes criminal behaviour, a label is regarded as an underlying phrase or name given to an actor. Primarily concerned with the consequences of an action, the labelling theory argues that deviance doesn’t belong to an act alone, but in the reaction to it . This image of a deviant act is in fact construed by societies. Social class, time of day, age, race, and even clothing and cleanliness were factors involved in studies by Pellavin that viewed how police and other authoritarian figures constructed consequences on individuals. Background expectations against juvenile participants also played a substantial factor in delivering, and regulating consequences . Derived from social interaction, interactionism allows stimulated and structured situations to be defined as real, with real consequences. Interactionism explains that by interacting with other human beings, an individual is constantly being constructed and negotiated. For example, if a model academic, who lived a perfectly, socially acceptable lifestyle abused drugs at a party and wasn’t penalised, the deviant act of drug abuse may no longer seem deviant, allowing the model citizen to negotiate personal views and morals on drug abuse. Deconstructing labelling theories into three foundations, Hopkins
Kelsey Dunstone
Understanding Criminology
University of Adelaide 2016
Regarded as one of the most notorious psychological experiments, the Stanford Prison Experiment, led by Philip Zimbardo, involved a group of 24 young male university students. Zimbardo sought to understand the norms and effects of roles, labels, and social norm expectations within his stimulated prison environment, located in the Stanford university basement. Occurring in August of 1971, the student’s roles were determined by a simple coin toss. The 24 participants, out of 75 applicants, knew only they would be involved as either a prisoner or warden in a makeshift prison for two weeks, earning $15 a …show more content…
It was at this point Zimbardo realised the reality of what was happening and removed himself from his Puppeteer role. The first day of the experiment as one prison guard, Elshman recollects, was “boring”, with guards behaving rationally until he decided to push the limits, and the others followed suit. Interestingly, Elshman admits that he acted this way due to adapting to the ‘warden’ role, and couldn’t have done so if he personally knew anyone outside of the experiment during his daily 8 hour shifts . With prisoners tortured, and guards creating harsher consequences for rebelling prisoners, inmates were rewarded for obedient behaviour with food, beds, uninterrupted sleep, and their makeshift-toilet buckets emptied. In a 1973 review by the American Psychology Association, it was determined that the experiment did not ethically break any rules, though no similar experiment will be conducted in the future . With annual reviews on the participants involved, it was concluded that no participant experienced permanent psychological issues. Although the participants …show more content…
Without directly stating that labelling causes criminal behaviour, a label is regarded as an underlying phrase or name given to an actor. Primarily concerned with the consequences of an action, the labelling theory argues that deviance doesn’t belong to an act alone, but in the reaction to it . This image of a deviant act is in fact construed by societies. Social class, time of day, age, race, and even clothing and cleanliness were factors involved in studies by Pellavin that viewed how police and other authoritarian figures constructed consequences on individuals. Background expectations against juvenile participants also played a substantial factor in delivering, and regulating consequences . Derived from social interaction, interactionism allows stimulated and structured situations to be defined as real, with real consequences. Interactionism explains that by interacting with other human beings, an individual is constantly being constructed and negotiated. For example, if a model academic, who lived a perfectly, socially acceptable lifestyle abused drugs at a party and wasn’t penalised, the deviant act of drug abuse may no longer seem deviant, allowing the model citizen to negotiate personal views and morals on drug abuse. Deconstructing labelling theories into three foundations, Hopkins