Psychological Relationships: The Stanford Prison Experiment

Psychological Relationships The Stanford Prison Experiment all began on a normal Sunday morning in the middle of August in Palo Alto, California. “Suspects” were picked up from their homes, handcuffed and read their rights, sent on their way to be booked as a normal criminal would. All of the participants had answered a local newspaper ad, calling for volunteers for a psychology experiment, consisting of playing the role of either a prison guard or a prisoner. Out of the 70 applicants, twenty-four were carefully chosen, their roles decided by the flip of a coin. Nine were assigned to be the ‘prisoners” and another nine the “guards; the remaining six were on call if they were needed. And experienced consultants, including a former prisoner, …show more content…
The prisoners didn’t take this too seriously at first, and this made the guards question how they were going to establish their power. They made prisoners do pushups as an initial form of punishment, forcing other prisoners to sit or step on the backs of the one serving the punishment. On the second morning, a rebellion took place in which the prisoners took off their stocking caps, removed their ID numbers from their smock, and pushed their beds against the door of their cells. This angered the guards, causing their point of view to change from them participating in a simple experiment to these prisoners are troublemakers and need to be punished, also leading them to stepping up their power and hostility. They decided to treat the situation with force, by breaking into the cells, stripping the inmates naked, removing their beds, harassing them and even putting the ringleader of the rebellion into solitary confinement. The guards came up with a simple solution: “Let 's use psychological tactics instead of physical ones.” They developed a “privilege cell,” placing the three prisoners least involved in the rebellion in there and gave them their uniforms back, allowing them to wash and brush their teeth, and receiving special food. After this, they switched the good inmates out with the bad …show more content…
A Catholic priest was invited to come in and talk to each and every prisoner. And when identifying themselves, they used their inmate ID numbers, rather than their name, because they had been trained to be acknowledged by these numbers. One prisoner in particular did not even want to talk to the priest, and didn’t until finally being convinced to. He broke down and had the chain removed from his ankle and was told to rest while he was bring brought food and was told he would be taken to see a doctor. During all of this, one guard lined the prisoners up outside of the room and had them chant, “Prisoner #819 is a bad prisoner. Because of what Prisoner #819 did, my cell is a mess, Mr. Correctional Officer.” The prisoner broke down once more and when offered the opportunity to leave, he refused, saying he had to go back out there to prove he was not in fact a bad prisoner. Until he was kindly reminded that it was all just an experiment, he agreed to