Analysis Of The Stanford Prison Experiment, By Eshleman

Eshleman, on his own agenda, started out lightly picking on the prisoners. It might be safe to say that from the start, he was the only experimental guard who immediately transitioned into his power-figured role. The rest of the student guards had to experience a bit of rebellion from the prisoners in order to really begin exercising their authority (The Menace Within). However, that did not take long. The prisoners, although not intentionally mistreated by the guards on the first day, still underwent a lot of humiliation with simply the procedures of being imprisoned On the second day of the experiment, the prisoners rebelled and blocked the guards from entering their cells by pushing their beds against the cell door (The Stanford Prison Experiment: Documentary). …show more content…
Due to their mischievous acts, the guards stepped up their enforcing skills and from that point on, the tension grew exponentially between the powerful and powerless. The guards began controlling and punishing the prisoners at greater and unnecessarily grotesque levels, a lot of the times for no apparent reason, and the prisoners slowly began to lose hope for fair treatment, growing more distressed as every hour went by. All participants became influenced by their roles. Even Zimbardo and his crew found themselves allowing guards to command heinous things and recalled how on several occasions they were looking at what was happening in the mock prison with eyes of prison superintendents and not researchers observing behavior (Revisiting The Stanford Prison Experiment: A Lesson In The Power Of Situation). This was how the researchers came to realize just how powerful one’s circumstances could affect behavior: they found themselves caring more about running an effective prison experiment than the well-being of the