The Pros And Cons Of The Stanford Prison Experiment

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There are many experiments and studies that researchers do to find out how most individuals, groups, cultures, etc. think and act. Like what is considered to be moral or immoral and how society can be better as a whole. Some experiments are more well-known than others and will forever be discussed even if they took place decades ago. Along with the Tuskegee Syphilis experiment and the Milgram experiment the Stanford Prison Experiment displayed unethical conduct that would not take place in today’s society and displayed the conforming of roles.
First taking place in the 1970’s, the film “The Stanford Prison Experiment” involved a psychologist by the name of Philip Zimbardo who conducted the study. He went on to gather twenty four “healthy” college
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The Stanford Prison experiment would have been a lot longer if Zimbardo’s girlfriend at the time who is now his wife, Christina Maslach, had not pointed out that the study was no longer a study. She exclaimed “I think it’s terrible what you’re doing to those boys,” after he continued to watch the abuse that took place in front of his very eyes he finally stepped in and announced that the experiment was over. The prisoners endured a large amount of stress and showed signs of depression. At the very end of the movie after the experiment was over the “head guard” and one of the “prisoners” spoke to each other about why the guards were so evil and brutal. The selected head guard basically exclaimed that nobody stopped him despite how sadistic he got and wanted to continue to push the envelope further and further. To add on to what he said he also said that he was conducting his own experiment inside the experiment. Surprisingly the Actual Dr. Zimbardo is still a working psychologist and was “honored by the American Psychological Association” in 2012. What was interesting about him was that he also became a part of the experiment and became like a warden and it showed him conforming as well. As time went on in the film some of his colleagues explained to the prisoners that they were disgusted by them and that they did not deserve to function in the outside world. The study also showed how real prisoners were viewed in the prison system and they deserved to be punished and that they should not have any type of rights. In the outside world many prisoners who get out of jail can have a hard time functioning in society because a lot of people have the notion of once a criminal always a criminal so they could have a difficult time finding jobs and home and often they end up right back in jail or

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