Reflection On Phil Zimbardo

I found this film very insightful and I was very shocked to see how people can abuse of others when they are put in higher positions and “have more power”. It is no surprise to me that people are abusive and controlive in the real world, as these things have can easily see played out in many instances, however I was pretty disturbed with the level of malicious treatment given towards the “prisoners” by the guards even though the whole scenario was merely an experiment and not a real life prison. I learned that due to the prisoner 's position and inferiority, they themselves granted the guards legitimization of authority and almost gave them the power to boss them around in a superficial setting. Once the prisoners got to the university’s basement …show more content…
Although he showed no mercy towards the prisoners it really allowed me to see the difference between the prisoner’s personalities and strengths or weaknesses such as the very polite prisoner and Prisoner 8612. Prisoner 8612 was so weak and so greatly affected by this experiment that he had to leave and did not even last six days which was not even half of the original time that the experiment was supposed to …show more content…
Having this ex felon in the film stressed the importance of the guards’ morality. The ex-felon stated that he could not stand by and watch what these guards did to the prisoners because he had actually been through this and the whole experiment was not ethical in his eyes. Knowing that this ex-felon had actually experienced prison in the real world made me think about how much worse it must have been for him and how easy the prisoners in this experiment actually had it. His decision to want to withdraw from this experiment’s staff showed me that he did have a heart and that regardless of the anger or frustration he may have built up while being in prison he did not find this torture enjoyable or that it did not make him an evil