Review the website. What most interested/surprised you? What did you learn? How does psychology relate?
Welcome to the Stanford Prison Experiment web site, which features an extensive slide show and information about this classic psychology experiment, including parallels with the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib. What happens when you put good people in an evil place? Does humanity win over evil, or does evil triumph? These are some of the questions we posed in this dramatic simulation of prison life conducted in the summer of 1971 at Stanford University.
I just find it so fascinating that the mind can be manipulated so easily. They saw the changes in the volunteer’s moods by the second day. I just can’t believe that it took less than six days for some people to crack under the circumstances of being a convict. What I really found surprising is that the person in charge of the experiment got lost in the experiment as well, which is one reason that they had to stop the experiment. I also found it extremely interesting that even the priest fell for his part and acted like you would see a priest act in a movie, and he did call the families of the volunteers telling them to get a lawyer. I found that just amazing.
As I was reading this I was unable to put myself in that position because I felt like I would be able to keep reality and from fantasy. I also have never been put into the position where you don’t know what time of day it is or whether it is day or night. I think I would go into this experiment thinking it was a joke, but once they made me get naked, put on a dress with nothing else, lock me in a cell, and control when I can and can’t go to the bathroom I think I would crack. I would want out of the experiment so fast.
What I find hard to believe is that almost none of them asked to get out of the experiment. It is crazy to think that they would honestly think that they did something to deserve that punishment, and even when going through parole they were willing to give up all the money they earned so that they could leave. When in all honesty they were able to leave at any time they wanted. My question is why didn’t any of them ask to be let go?
I learned that the human mind is extremely fragile. I also learned that or prison systems probably need some serious help if this happened in an experiment. I mean in real life prisons the guards do have that power and the convicts don’t have much. The only thing that convicts have is the numbers. I feel like this can be used in a lot of situations and can also explain how people feel in wars, jobs, etc. The human mind is very fragile and can be manipulated in less than 2-3 days into thinking that something is happening or isn’t happening to them. It took the lead psychologist to convince on of the volunteers that this was an experiment, and that he could leave.
This entire experiment plays with psychology. It has behavioral, cognitive, and social psychology all over it. The social psychology was the fact that the guards had to work together, the convicts worked together, and their relationships with both the guards and convicts. They had to play the part that is normal in prisons. It was cognitive psychology because a lot of the volunteers had mental problems come from this. They would have mental breakdowns. This whole experiment altered the minds of everyone involved, and when I say everyone I mean everyone. It was behavioral psychology because they were put into certain positions and the volunteers played their role to a T. They showed the behavior that they thought was right for their situations, and even in some instances took it way too far.
The Stanford Prison Experiment is easily one of the most infamous psychological experiments to ever be conducted. There are so many different components that involve psychology, and how the mind can affect individuals who are so incredibly distressed mentally. There were several things in this experiment that I found to be interesting and surprising. Some of the information that I had not been familiar with and really surprised me when I read about involved the conditions of the actual assimilation into the prison experiment. I thought it was really appalling that despite the fact it was a simple experiment, the prisoners were stripped naked and sprayed with chemicals upon their initial arrival to the prison. Another factor I found interesting was how quickly both the guards and prisoners adopted their roles. I feel like if I were placed in such a situation I become so distressed that I would cause as much trouble as possible to dismiss me from the experiment. Fortunately, I have never been exposed to such extreme mental degradation. What surprised me the most was how accepting the parents were of the situation when they came to visit the holding cells. If I were to discover my child in such a situation, I would immediately take action to have them removed from such as stressful environment. It almost infuriated me how little comments from Dr. Zimbardo to the parents provoked a sense of parental pride that motivated them to further allow their sons to remain in the experiment.
There were many interesting aspects of the experiment. I found it very interesting how creative the guards were with coming up with different types of dehumanizing procedures. Forcing prisoners to soundoff and perform laborious actions such as push ups and jumping jacks truly demonstrates the innate brutality that lives within every human being. Regarding that, I thought it was interesting that the Nazi's actually subjected prisoners such excercises. As a history major with who is pre. law, I was surprised to learn new information on a subject that I have researched extensively in the past. Another interesting factor involved with the experiment was the incorporation of a privilaged cell. This motivated prisoners to work against each other in competition to recieve such benefits in the experiment. This experiment illustrates many interesting factors, but most of them are driven by psychological concepts that I learned a lot more about.
There is psychology displayed in every element of this experiment. The constant degradation of the prisoner's demonstrates the need for prison facilitators to break the will of their prisoners in order to successfully control them. The guards uniform attire also displays some prevalent psychological themes. For example, the application of mirrored sunglasses allowed the guards to appear emotionless and brutal in the prisoner's eyes. This was an additional method of establishing control. I think what I was most taken back by learning was how psychologically unstable some of the prisoners became. Two of the prisoners had become so mentally distraught that they displayed characteristics of hopelessness and despair. The culmination of this factor was highlighted when one ill prisoner was subjected to the yells of his fellow prisoners claiming he was a bad prisoner. This action provoked the poor young man to tears, and Dr. Zimbardo actually had to suspend his role within the experiment and ensure the young man it was all a false reality. This experiment will easily be regardede as one of the most successful psychological studies on the mental elements of the prison system within the United States. Ultimately, the mental degradation and humility suffered by these students will provide a genuine insight into how the prison system should be approached.
I knew a little bit about this experiment before reading everything on the website, but my previous knowledge did not come anywhere close to encompassing all the different aspects of the experiment. I learned a lot and feel as though I have a much better grasp on what went on in this experiment. I do, however, wonder what would have been different about the results of the experiment had the participants not been split up equally between being a guard and being a prisoner. In real prisons, there are many more prisoners than there are guards, and even though the guards were split up into shifts, I think this could have had an impact on the way both parties reacted to different situations.
One thing I did not know about the experiment was that intercoms allowed not only communication with the prisoners for announcements, but also the ability to eavesdrop on their conversations. It was interesting that once they heard rumors of the prisoners trying to escape, rather than listening in on more conversations or trying to make better use of this technology, they simply assumed the worst and took extremely drastic and unnecessary steps to secure the prisoners. I also did not know that there were not any clocks in the prison setting. I think that time distortion probably added to the prisoners’ stress and other feelings of angst because that is normally a sort of solid base in reality. I was really surprised by the intense degradation experienced by the prisoners. I did not realized everything they had to go through in this experiment; while being sprayed for germs is only a temporary thing, having to wear a dress with nothing underneath it had to have been extremely humiliating and uncomfortable.
I thought it was very interesting that the guards decided to start using psychological warfare after the rebellion of the prisoners. I think they did a good job using the good and bad cells as means to ruin the solidarity among the prisoners. I also thought it was interesting how the situation of visitors was handled. I think that the way the treated that situation by cleaning everything up and trying to make the prisoners happier through music and food would probably be true for any sort of institution that is trying to give off a good appearance so they don’t get shut down.
From everything that happened only after a course of six days, I think that this experiment does an extremely good job showing the effects prisons have on people. I think it shows the effects so well because all of the participants, both the guards and the prisoners, were equals beforehand and the prison wasn’t an actual establishment until the guards began making it one. Already by the 2nd morning of the experiment there was a riot, and from then on the guards did whatever they thought was necessary to control the prisoners and sometime punished them just for fun. The drastic changes in the attitudes and mental states of all of the participants gives a lot of insight into the prison world. The social psychology that was at work for the entire experiment is very interesting to consider because of the changes in the relationships between the prisoners themselves and between prisoners and guards. The behavioral psychology present in the experiment, as noted in the slideshow, has turned out to be somewhat puzzling. Since all of the participants came in in healthy psychological states, it is interesting to see how each of them responded differently to the situation at hand, especially those who were on the more extreme end of the spectrum of behavior. The guards who turned out to behave sadistically and the prisoners who had emotional breakdowns displayed behaviors that were more drastic than what was expected. It was interesting that even Dr. Zimbardo was protecting this experiment and its continuation very aggressively; it's almost as though he was caught up in the 'reality' of the prison as much as the participants were. It seems somewhat ridiculous to me that after all this experiment showed about the degradation of prisons and how horrible they can be, our prison system is still using methods that entice violence simply because they think that is the only way to control the prisoners.
I love reading and learning about the Stanford Prison Experiment. It was one of the only experiments done in psychology that I actually like hearing about over and over. I have learned a lot about this experiment in many of my classes, especially my applied psychology course I took the spring of my sophomore year. We watched a very interesting, in-depth video about the experiment where I learned a lot about how everything went down. Since that was a year ago, I still needed to thoroughly go through the website’s slideshow to refresh my memory on all the details. However since I feel like I do have a more thorough knowledge of the case, I wanted to spin my blog differently. We all know that the experiment brought out very strong, negative emotions from both sides, especially the guards. Though very interesting, it is easy to talk about the psychology of this and I believe that is where most people will discuss about in their blogs. So I wanted to do something different and look at the actual set up of the experiment and how psychology played a role in the construction of it all.
One thing that I didn’t know until the movie and then was reminded about in the slideshow was that the criminals were arrested from their homes. I loved how thorough they were being with the experiment, however as a criminal I would hate that. I believe that even if you told your neighbors it was all just for an experiment and that the arrest had no merit, your neighbors would still view you and maybe even treat you differently. This is a great example of psychology and how people can tend to focus and never forget certain things, even if they hold no truth.
Speaking of being thorough, I loved how they turned a portion of the school into a complete prison. They sectioned off a piece of land outside known as the yard. They also created jail cells which included metal bars to make everything seem and feel more authentic. This is another example of psychology at play. In order to elicit the most genuine responses of the volunteers’ roles, they created an environment to do so. It shows the importance of environment and the results of the experiment also showed the impact it can have.
What is interesting to me is that those who ran the experiment went through multiple steps to degrade the prisoners and to make them feel like actual prisoners. As I mentioned above, they arrested them, also took their fingerprints, strip searched them, and gave them degrading uniforms to wear without letting them wear underwear. Where as for the guards, all they pretty much did was hand them a uniform and equipment and let them lose. I believe this to be one of the main reasons why and where the experiment went wrong. Multiple steps were taken to create a situation for the prisoners that was very similar to what real life prisoners experience when being imprisoned. However, we all know if real life it takes a lot of schooling and training to become a police officer and/or a prison guard. The guards in this experiment never had to go through such steps. Obviously it would have been impossible to give them all the proper schooling and training. However they could have at least when through some steps. Maybe watch a video? Or hear a lecture on how to run and handle a prison? Without this training, it almost tells the guards “you are better than the prisoners just because you are you”; not because they had went through any sort of schooling, or training, or anything. I believe this is what set off and started the whole thing to go down in smoke. I’m not necessarily saying that a training video could have prevented the responses out of the volunteers. But it may have made the responses more inhibited and less violent.
The Stanford Prison experiment is a study that I have learned about in other courses that I have taken. However going through this websites slide tour I learned new things about the experiment. I didn't know that the guards used the strategy of giving some prisoners special privileges for not being involved in the rebellion. It was a good idea on the part of the guards to use some forms of reinforcement rather than strictly punishing the prisoners but then giving "bad" inmates the special privileges and taking the "good" inmates out of the privileged cells just confused and distressed them. It's interesting that real guards use similar tactics such as establishing distrust among the inmates to deflect aggression from themselves.
One third of the guards used intense punishment and appeared to really enjoy having power over the inmates. However this could not be predicted in the pre experiment personality tests. It makes me wonder why do people abuse power when given the opportunity especially when it was just an experiment. Some of the guards took the rebellion of the prisoners personally and as a shot to their pride.
There were some psychological factors that led to the mental breakdown of some of the prisoners. From the very start the prisoners were dehumanized. When being stripped searched and checked for lice and other germs prisoners get the feeling that they are bad people or more or less an animal that the guards could care less about. Being locked up with no sense of time would definitely mess with my head. With no access to the outdoors to see the sun and no clocks, it wouldn't matter if it was night or day. Before the rebellion when the prisoners had somewhat of a level of trust among each other they could talk to cope with the distress. But once the guards started using psychological tactics to stop further rebellions the prisoners no longer had each other to rely on. In the prison system the worst punishment is isolation from others, we as humans need each other and the fact that the prisoners didn't have anyone to talk to played a role in their mental breakdowns.
I am quite familiar with this experiment, as we discussed this in depth in my Intro to Sociology class. I find it very peculiar how easily the participants changed their behavior and even identity. Not only the guards and prisoners felt this change, but the doctor whom was suppose to be watching over the experiment fell too deeply into his own role of prison warden. All seemed to forget what waas real and what was not. As you read through the experiment, it seems as though this developing change occurs over quite a lengthy period of time. I found it absolutely shocking that all this took place in only a matter of days! The prisoners were already plotting their escapes and they had not even been imprisoned for more than a week. This truly puts into perspective how our current REAL prisons work and what goes on inside those towering walls. In both the experiment and the prisons that made headlines across the nation following, all prisoners begged to be treated like human beings and not animals. What the experiment lacked in actuality of a prison (size, loss of civil rights, etc.) it made up in psychological factors for both intimidating the prisoners as well as falsely empowering the guards. The warden admittedly became enraged when someone or something caused his "prison" troubles. He had lost control of himself and his experiment rather quickly. I was surprised to see the same thing happen to fast to the prisoners; losing their sense of identity and referring to themselves as numbers. All in all this experiment was truly an eye opener for both the participants and those in charge of the prison systems.
This assignment wax very intriguing. I knew a little bit on information about the Stanford Prison Experiment before this class, but not a lot. I wasn't aware of the extremes put into this simulation. For example, the participants were actually arrested from their homes by an actual cop. This would be very humiliating for anybody because all of your neighbors could see you being arrested. They wouldn't know till later it was a volunteer simulation. Prisoners were also humiliated when they were forced to wear dresses as a way to emasculate them. This worked because the men started act differently, almost more like women. The prisoners were not allowed to wear anything under their prisoner uniform, which would make anyone feel uncomfortable wearing a dress with nothing under it.
I found it surprising how much the guards got into their role. They would punish the prisoners in various ways. They had a storage closest they called "the hole". They kept this for the prisoners who really acted out. Otherwise they made the prisoners do push ups, and even had people step on their back when they were doing them to make them harder. By the second day the guards were already more comfortable in their role and asserting authority over the prisoners. This just proves that people really do have a cruel, mean part inside of them. I would like to think that I would not fall to such means of dehumanizing techniques if I was ever in a similar situation, but there is no way to know how I would react.
I found how the guards took initiative agaisnt the prisoners rebellion interesting. They not only used physical means but psychological ones aswell. The guards did a wonderful job of playing the prisoners against each other by using the "good" cells and "bad" cells. They psychologically weakened the prisoners. The guards went as far as holding the prisoners from using the toilet. Another interesting component were how the parents were treated when they visited. First of all, the prison and prisoners were cleaned to make the situation seem more appealing. The guards had used the parents as another way to add drama within the simulation.
I was most surprised that the head researcher got so involved in his role. He actually started acting like a prison superintendent instead of a researcher. He finally realized how much he was wrapped into the role when prisoner #819 felt so powerless that he was going to stay in the prison just to prove he was not a bad prisoner. This is why he requested a priest to come talk with the prisoners.
Psychology relates to this experiment in many ways. First of all, how the guards dressed with the mirrored sunglasses showed their authority over the prisoners. Also when so many of the participants lost sense of who they were. How the prisoners thought of themselves as their id number, and how the most severe guard was nicknamed John Wayne. This proved how our real prison systems can make people feel superior or dehumanized. Overall I think this experiment showed just how cruel people become when given the extra power and authority.
I have heard of this experiment before in classes I have taken in the past. I found the whole experiment interesting. After going through the slide show on the website provided I learned a lot more about the Stanford Prison experiment than I previously known. The beginning of the study started off with real cops showing up to the volunteers houses hand cuffing and arresting them. They were then brought to the police station, booked, finger printed and held in a holding cell. This already sets in a sense that this is very real. Upon arrival at the prison created in the bottom of the psychology building they were stripped, searched, and sprayed with something for germs. The uniform the prisoners were given was a dress with their number on it. From the very beginning the prisoners are already being degraded and humiliated in order to make them feel as if this is a real prison and not just an experiment. The chain placed on their foot was strategically placed so even when they were sleeping they couldn't escape the terrible conditions in prison. This would have a definite impact on me if i was in the prisoners shoes. By making the prisoners refer to themselves and others by their number was another way to enforce the prison atmosphere and taking away their identity. At the end of the study one of the prisoners says that he started questioning who he was and wasn't. The uniforms given to the guards was interesting to me. They wore khakis with a whistle, club in hand, and reflective sunglasses that didn't let any emotion be seen. I wonder what effect real prison guards wearing sunglasses like this would have in real prison settings. From the beginning the guards started asserting their power over the prisoners. They were subjected to physical punishment in this experiment and was surpassed to learn that this also was used as punishment by the Nazis. After the prisoners rebellion they punished them by spraying them with a fire extinguisher, stripping them naked, took their beds, and forced the leaders into solitary confinement which was a tiny little space. The guards shifted to psychological punishment by creating a "privilege cell." At first they put good prisoners in there but then to confuse the prisoners and turn them against each other they started putting bad prisoners in there as well. The most interesting part of this experiment I thought was that even when the prisoners were suffering and being harassed they could have asked to leave at any point but none of them did. Prisoner 819 was told he could leave but he refused and had to be told his name that it wasn't a real prison and that this whole thing was an experiment before he would leave. This just shows how much of a psychological impact this experiment had/could have.
Psychology played a huge role in this experiment. Social psychology because how people started treating others differently and how it took a toll on not only the prisoners but the guards too. For example when the privilege cell was used prisoners starting not trusting each other. Cognitive psychology because of the effects this study had on them. It altered every volunteer involved. Two of the prisoners were showing severe distress and signs of depression. Behavioral psychology: in the beginning of the experiment random names were pulled out to decide if they were to be prisoners or guards. No matter what the were selected to be it had a major impact on their behavior. The guards started acting powerful and mean, one guard even admitted he never thought he would act that way and that the role just overpowered him. The prisoners at first rebelled but then felt defeated and gave in to the torture being impressed upon them.
I had heard of the Stanford Prison Experiment in other classes; however, I never really delved into the actually experiment. To really learn about and research the topic was great. I found the whole process very interesting. They went to great lengths to mock a real prison scenario. For instance, the strip search was thorough, just like a real situation. I figured they would skip things like this that are a bit intense due to the fact it is just an experiment. Like they explained, these small parts are highly influential on the study. This gave the “prisoners” a sense of humiliation like a real prisoner would face. They also used ID numbers to make a person feel anonymous.
The guards were also intriguing part to the case. They were given the privilege to act however was necessary. Because of this, they were able to establish their leadership and build a persona with no limits. They acted out in aggression when the prisoners were noncompliant. In one instance, they used fire extinguishers to keep the prisoners in line. They also punished people by placing them in the “hole.” It was interesting how their demeanor changed due to their prominent status and power over the guards. They would even use mandatory bodily functions against individuals such as making them pee in their cell by not allowing them to use the bathroom.
I was shocked to learn that only after 36 hours; a prisoner was realized due to emotional disturbances and other affects. I can’t imagine the effects prison has on a person with a life sentence if it only took 36 hours for someone already suffer in that degree.
The Kafkaesque element was also a very interesting part of the study. What got me the most was in they asked a prisoner their name and instead they stated their number. The prison atmosphere had stripped them of their identity and self-worth. It is amazing that these individuals know it is an experiment; however, they have succumbed to this life style as if it is their own. This taught me how much the mind can be subjected to influence and manipulation. As humans, we are products of our surrounds. By being a prisoner, they took on the role because their surrounds and peers told them to. They became helpless and forgot who they were.
I think that cognitive psychology played a large role in this study. The individuals mental processes were affected multiple ways, and it only took a few hours. The prisoners suffered from mental break downs, and the guards ego and power effected their thinking and outlook on themselves. Guards became more controlling as time went on. Social psychology also played a role. The relationship between the guards and prisoners changed drastically over time. Before they entered the experiment, they were all college students and the same. However, that changed in their new roles. The guards held clout over the prisoners and treated them like subpar individuals.
I learned about the Stanford prison experiment a few years ago in one of criminology classes and was really surprised with what I learned from it. Prison is not supposed to be a fun place; it is where people who have been deemed no longer capable of functioning successfully in society are sent to pay for what they have done. Prisons vary throughout the United states and the people that are in the do as well, for instance the people staying in a maximum security prison are going to be more of a threat then those housed in a prison that has less security.
No matter how you look at it though any prison that allows inmates to move freely and communicate whenever they feel like it is a school for crime. so if you were to send a man to prison for a non-violent offense chances are while he is in there he will be victimized in some sort of way and when he is released he will not be the same person he was before he went into the institution. Just like the Stanford prison experiment which included college student that didn't commit a real crime to be sent to a prison but while they were in there in those close quarters a few of them kind of went of the wall, this happens everyday in prison. We should probably develop or prisons to hold specific types of offender that way a person doesn't come out of prison worse off then they were before they went in.
The Stanford Prison Experiment is definitely not a new topic of study for psychology majors, but it never gets old because it is so shocking. This infamous prison study is a terrifying eye-opener. Within only six days of a planned two-week study, the situation got so out of hand that it had to be ended. The goal was to study the psychological effects of prison life, but the short experiment taught the world of psychology a lot more. I believe that the volunteers (young college aged men in the Stanford area) had no idea what they were truly getting into when they signed up to make $15.00 a day to be in a study. They were arrested at their homes in front of neighbors and family, taken to the jail and processed just like every other criminal, strip searched and even sprayed down to rid them of lice or germs that they might have, while being blind folded a majority of the time. Already, there are a variety of psychological consequences to mention: arresting the students in front of unsuspecting family and neighbors caused embarrassment, blindfolding was done to disorient the prisoner, and stripping them to be sprayed was humiliating.
Before they were put in a cell with no clocks or windows to the outside world, they were administered an identification number, prison uniform that was like a dress with nothing on underneath, and a heavy ankle chain. Immediately the volunteers displayed very different body language, more feminine than masculine. They put stocking caps on their heads to mimic real prisons and even the military. Something that interested me was that the process of having one's head shaved is premeditated to minimize each person's individuality and create more obedient soldiers or prisoners. With all the guards in the same uniform and eye-shielding sunglasses and all the prisoners in the same degrading uniforms, the attitudes of each group began to transform to more authoritative and passive respectively. Eventually they seemed to lose sight in that this was just an experiment and took things too far. Abuse and neglect got out of hand to the point where outside authority shut down the research study. A variety psychological aspects are considered when examining this study. How role play and a matching uniform transforms a person’s identity and changes their entire demeanor is one of the main findings of this study. Something that surprised me the most was that no prisoner ever said hey this is just a study I volunteered for—I’m outta here. I would like to think that I would have enough will power and conscious awareness of reality to do something about the abuse if I were a guard or quit if I were a prisoner but at the same time I might have also stuck it out for 6 days. A sense of humanity is definitely lost when people lose a sense of their own identity and feel less responsible for their actions.
The Stanford Prison Experiment is a simulation of prison life. Researchers put an add out in the paper asking for volunteers to help with a study for prison life. 70 people replied to the add, but they had to undergo an intense screening to weed out people with personality disorders, disabilities, and anyone that has been convicted of a crime or drug abuse. The researchers were left with 24 college students from Canada and the US.
The boys were randomly split up into two groups, prisoners and guards. The prisoners were randomly arrested by real police officers sometime during the day. They were read their miranda rights, fingerprinted, and blind folded to wait to see where they were going to go. The prisoners were strip searched and sanitized. The researchers wanted them to feel the humiliation that real prisoners go through.They were forced to wear smock dresses with nothing on underneath and flip flops. The prisoners also had to wear a nylon stocking over their head, which was used as a substitute for shaving their heads, and chains wrapped around one foot to represent the oppression in the prison. The guards wore mirrored sunglasses and a khaki uniform.
The researchers started off with nine guards and nine prisoners, while the others would be on call if they needed them. The sleeping arrangements were small so at night time they only had three prisoners in the cell sleeping. The nine guards took turns with three 8 hour shifts. The guards were not trained and made up their own rules.
The prisoners had a difficult time adjusting to the rules because they were still trying to show their independence, so the guards often made them do pushups as a form of physical punishment. The second day of the experiment the prisoners rebelled against the guards by ripping off their stockings and id numbers and barracaided themselves inside their cells. The guards were mad the prisoners rebelled, so they took the fire extinguisher and shot it into their cells to back the prisoners away from the door. The guards broke into the cells and stripped the prisoners naked. They took the leaders of the rebellion and put them in the "hole" and started making fun of the naked prisoners. The guards started to use a psychological tactic to break the prisoners. They only gave clothes back to the three prisoners least involved with the rebellion. They also got their beds back and got to brush their teeth, bathe, and eat. The rest of the prisoners were forced to sleep on the floor, remain unclothed, and not allowed to wash themselves or eat.
The guards took complete control over the prison making sure another rebellion didn't happen. The guards did not allow the prisoners to use real bathrooms. They made them pee and poop in a bucket, but would not let them empty out their buckets. This was another psychological tactic to humiliate the prisoners. One of the prisoners had to be released after 36 hours because he was so emotionally disturbed
This was a very interesting experiment, but I think it had a lot of negative effects on the participants. The prisoners became severely depressed and the guards became sadistic and cruel. Overall I think it was a good study because it showed that harsh conditions do have a huge effect on people's emotions.
I have learned about The Stanford Prison Study in previous classes. Each time I read more about it I learn more about it and it still amazes me that people can be so manipulated by their title. The study was set up to last for two weeks and ended up only lasting for six days because it got so out of hand. This study was to prove the psychological effects of prison time, but it proved much more when it was over.
Men from around Stanford volunteered to be apart of the experiment to be paid fifteen dollars per day. They were randomly assigned to be prisoners or guards. The prisoners were arrested in front of their homes in front of neighbors, families, and being watching. This was very embarrassing and humiliating for them. They were then brought to the place where the study was taken place and were strip searched and hosed down to get rid of lice and germs. They were processed just like any other prisoner. The prisoners were blindfolded most of the time to keep them disoriented and confused. After they did the immediate procedures of admitting the prisoners they gave each prisoner a plain outfit and identification number. They also received a hat and had their heads shaved to make it look more believable that they were no longer an individual person. From then on they were referred to by their numbers and not their names. They were then placed inside of a plain walled cell with no clocks or windows to really create the illusion of a prison.
The guards were another brilliant aspect of this study. They were given guard uniforms and told to act however they needed to to keep the prisoners in line. They were mean and agressive. They even used a fire extinguisher to keep the prisoners in line when they started getting out of control. Another punishment that they would do was to send the prisoners to the "hole" which was a cell away from everyone else and in a dark place all alone. This caused the prisoners to go insane. The guards would also not allow some of the prisoners to go to the bathroom and make them relieve themselves right in their cell in front of everyone else that caused embarrassment. It was interesting to learn that only thirty-six hours after the study started a prisoner was released due to mental and emotional disturbances. He couldn't handle the restraint.
It was also interesting to learn the way people change when they are given a title or a status. Just a little thing like that can change people immediately. The guards kept using the prisoners numbers and not their names which took away their individualism and self-worth. These psychological factors were not good for the prisoners and just kept giving more power to the guards because they felt inferior to the the others. Social psychology was a major role in this study because the the guards were allowed to act however they wanted towards the prisoners. And the prisoners had absolutely no say in anything. I think this would be even harder because they all knew it was just an experiment and some of them took it way too far. Cognitive development was also another important aspect of the study because it caused the prisoners to feel low about themselves and they had no say in any aspect of their lives. Where it gave the guards more power and they felt inferior. This messed with their minds. I can't even imagine what prison is like. I hope I never have to experience it. After reading about this experiment and knowing that it wasn't real but had such a great affect on the men who take place, it shows me how harsh prison really is.
The Stanford Prison Experiment was really interesting and astonishing to me. I have heard about this experiment before from other classes and it is one of the most famous experiments in psychology. Researchers wanted to know how people would respond to authority. What was most surprising to me is that everyone is the study knew it was an experiment. People and more specifically the prisoners began to go crazy over the amount of control that was put on them. I don’t quite get how those you were going crazy didn’t just get out of the experiment. It is really interesting t me how the human mind can be manipulated like this. They know it was an experiment and yet they were still acting as if it was the real thing. At least this is how I perceived it.
Although I have learned about the prison experiment before there were still some things I learned from going through the website. I didn’t really realize that all of the prisoners were treated differently from one another in the experiment. Some people were treated better by the guards than others were. I think this is what really made some of these people go crazy. The ones that were getting severely mistreated were mostly the ones that were going crazy. Again it was an experiment and in an experiment you’re not suppose to get treated like this so I don’t know why they didn’t just get out of it. I get that they were getting paid $15 a day but this doesn’t seem like enough money to get treated like some of them were. I didn’t know that the prisoners were actually arrested. I thought they just showed up to the experiment site. I didn’t know they were actually blindfolded driven there.
After going through this slide show and from what I have learned in the past I realized there was a lot of psychology going on. I think the biggest psychological aspects in this study were cognitive and social psychology. The guards really got into some of the prisoners heads and changed their mental state. Again as I alluded to before some of these people totally changed their behavior and I guess this could have to do with social psychology. A lot of this occurred because of the social psychology that was occurring. The guards were constantly asserting themselves in an aggressive social manner and I think a lot of this changed many of the guards.
I remember watching a video about the Stanford prison experiment in applied psych last year. It must have been watered down quite a bit because what I learned from the website was shocking. I had no idea that the "prisoners" were actually put through the whole ordeal of being arrested and processed at the local jail. I was not necessarily surprised by certain guards abusing power, but rather that the other guards did nothing (even to inform experiment supervisors). The conditions that the "prisoners" were exposed to were ridiculous.
The torture we saw in this experiment is reminiscent of Abu Grahib and I believe that the abuse the "prisoners" endured was above and beyond what most prisoners today (and even then) would ever experience. For starters, I feel that the stripping of subjects naked in an experiment and dousing them with powder was unnecessary. I realize this may have been deemed necessary in order to achieve real prisoner degradation and humiliation, but this seems like something you'd would be more likely to see in an old(er) movie back when lice was a big problem or in foreign countries. In my single experience, I was given full privacy when initially changing clothes, when showering, and aside from urinating in an open toilet in front of several officers and fellow cellmates, I never felt as though my privacy had been violated. I'm sure prison is a whole different story though. One must also take into account the year of the experiment. This experiment was conducted during a time when our country was tired of crime and was beginning to take a hardcore stance on it. What we saw in this experiment very well could have been what the guards or prisoners had witnessed in similar movie or television roles of the time (because stage characters and their actions often mimic current social issues).
Dr. Zimbardo is a rather intriguing individual. Part of me dislikes him because he just looks and acts like a slimy, money-hungry weasel who cares only for personal gain. However, after looking into more of his work through the tabs at the top of the page, it is apparent that Dr. Zimbardo is incredibly knowledgeable in several areas of psychology. It seems as though he cares about human welfare more than himself after all. One book of his that I thought sounded really cool was "The Lucifer Effect: How Good People Turn Evil". I have always been fascinated by cases where a seemingly normal, good-natured individual snaps and commits a sadistic or dastardly deed. I was able to find a copy online and may in fact order it for further reading. As far as his other work being made available to the public, how Dr. Z expects to get $120 for that 50-minute DVD is beyond me.
What I liked about this experiment was that it was so real. Dr. Zimbardo and his colleagues needed to reproduce these scenarios as authentically as possible to obtain the most accurate results. Everything about the experiment was made to resemble a real prison of the time. I never knew how much work they did in order to turn the labs into prison cells and a small closet into "the hole". Guards were trained poorly (much like the poorly paid, poorly trained prison guards today) and prisoners were degraded in every way possible (and then some). On the other side of the spectrum, no participant of a study should ever have to subject themselves to such conditions. I still cannot fathom how, despite suffering extreme psychological trauma, not a single participant quit when they actually could have (right?).
The Stanford Prison Experiment is something that I have heard about in most of my psychology classes. However, I have never taken the time to look into the experiment further. After looking at these slides on the website I have discovered that there are many aspects of the experiment that I was unaware of. It is evident that this experiment has a lot to say about human nature and power. It also is good example of an experiment that would not be approved by today’s IRB standards because of the psychological stress the participants experienced. The interesting thing I noticed about this study was idea that this psychology experiment is similar to the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib. The abuse that occurred at this prison camp in the Middle East was way harsher but the type of psychological abuse that was taking place is similar to what was presented in this experiment.
I never realized that the participants chosen for the study were volunteers. They all underwent psychological tests and personality tests before beginning the study. A total of 18 participants were chosen to begin the study. They were randomly assigned to be either a prison guard or a prisoner. Since they were randomly assigned and all scored relatively similar on the tests everybody in a sense started out in the same state. The only changed that occurred in their behavior were going to be attributed to their status of prisoner or guard. From what I could tell the prisoners were not aware they were picked to be prisoners until they were actually arrested in from of their family and neighbors. This was the first time the experiment introduced psychology stress on the prisoners. They were unable to explain to them that this was an experiment and neighbors and other observers would now view him as a bad person causing the prisoner stress because he was unable to explain.
A lot of work went into making the prison seem like a real prison. I was surprised to learn that Zimbardo and his colleagues actually got help from former convicts who served time. This helped create an experimental condition that was close to real life as possible or at least an environment that would make the prisoners feel confined and isolated. I also learned that they got help from the local police. The local police station is where the prisoners were held until ready to be brought to the prison. They were also the ones to arrest them in front of their homes. Using real police officers made the experiment feel real also.
Humiliation was the biggest psychological factor in this study. This is what gradually broke the prisoners down. They were forced to strip and wear dresses. They were told to wear stockings on their head making them feel even more feminine as well as making them lose their sense of individuality. Prisoners wore chains around their ankles. This was to remind that constantly that they were in prison. Every time they moved they would hear the chains and be reminded that they are not free. Although real prisoners don’t wear dresses and they are rarely forced to wear chains these items serve a purpose by creating a functional simulation of what happens in a real prisons – they create the same effect.
Prisoners were identified by their ID numbers. The guards referred to the prisoners by these numbers, and even the prisoners started referring to each other by these numbers. When the prisoners started referring to each other by their ID numbers this was a sign that they were really started to life their roles.
The psychological effects were also evident in the guards. They were given no training on how to be a guard before the start of the experiment. However they quickly assumed an authoritative position. Although they were not allowed to physically abuse the prisoners, they found other way to assert their new authority. I thought it was interesting watching the video where a guard was interviewed after the experiment was over. He was shocked that he was able to be mean towards the prisoners. He said that he never thought he would be capable of such behavior.
I find the Stanford Prison Experiment to be fascinating and consider it to be one of the best experiments in psychology. I have learned about the Stanford Prison Experiment in Intro. to Psych and Social Psych, but I had never visited this specific website. I thought the website was great and offered insight about the experiment that I hadn’t been aware of before. I never realized that the subjects of the experiment were actually arrested like a real criminal would be arrested. I sort of just assumed that the participants just showed up to the fake jail, but now that I know this information I can better understand why the mentality of the prisoners changed so dramatically. They were treated exactly like a criminal and had no previous warning that they were going to be arrested.
Once the participants were arrested they were taken to the police station. They were fingerprinted, blindfolded, put in a cell, stripped naked, searched, deloused, given a uniform, given a number and had to put a chain around one foot. Half of the participants became the “prisoners”, while the other half became guards. The mock prison was set up in the basement of Stanford University building.
On the second day the prisoners rebelled against their incarceration. The guards quickly and brutally regained control. Afterwards, the prisoners began behaving with obedience towards the prison guards. Prisoners began to feel as if they were actually prisoners. The guards also began to live their roles.
Very quickly, the subjects of the experiment began taking their roles to the extreme and crossing the line. I also don’t remember learning that the creator of the experiment, himself, began to get too immersed in his own role as the ‘prison superintendent’. I find it shocking that the person in charge of everything could also became mentally captivated by his own mock-prison job. Our social adaptations aren't limited to specific people, but rather anybody can become trapped by their mind's tricks.
When things became too out of hand, the experiment was stopped when one of the colleagues intervened. The experiment lasted only six of the planned 14 days.
This whole experiment relates to psychology in so many ways. It shows the huge effect our mental situations can affect our lives. This experiment provides insight on human behaviors and psychological adaptations. People were taking on the social roles that were assigned to them. This included adopting the implicit social norms associated with those roles: guards became authoritarian and abusive, while prisoners became obedient and accepting of punishment.
What most interested/surprised you?
What surprises me the most about this experiment is how serious the roles get taken. The experimenters go into this knowing that what they are doing is only a simulation and experiment but they become what their roles are very quickly. It only takes two days for the prisoners to rebel and the first day the guards are already taking their role seriously. What is it about this situation is it that makes them take it so serious?? Why do they go to such extreme measures that they, in a normal state of mind, would find ridiculous and unnecessary.
What did you learn?
There is a lot to learn from this experiment. For one, you never really know how you will act in a situation until you are put into that situation. People can say they wont do something and swear they will do another, but it can be believed until you see them do it in that situation. Also the impact of power or helplessness. The impact of power and the magnitude of felling helplessness can do crazy things to a persons mind. The biggest thing to take away from this experiment is the power of psychology and how being put in situations can mess with you mind.
How does psychology relate?
Before these people when into this experiment they had never been in the position they were about to be in so they didnt really know what to do. After they got there they most likely got their ideas of how to act from what they saw in movies, on tv shows, or the news. Just like in many other situations, when we do know exactly what to do, we mock what we have seen. They also act based on how they think they are expected to act. Prisoners are supposed to be mean and maintain control and prisoners are supposed to rebel and go against rules. Its all based on their mental representation of the roles they are in.
Also, the psychology of power. Power does crazy things to people and in a way can take over a persons mind. It can make someone do things they would never think they would do. The effect of not having a name or identity and being just a number. It gives a person no since of identity or no sense of belonging. They dont have to be themselves when they are essentially not themselves. Their actions dont have to be own by who they are nor does anything else they do. Its all tied to a number that means nothing to them or anyone else and if your a nobody then who do you have to follow to tell you whats morally right and morally wrong.
Another big psychological component to this experiment is the after effects of the experiment. Many of these volunteers were seriously affected by what went on in those 6 days and it will stick with them the rest of their lives.
There are so many things that relate to psychology in this experiment it just difficult to put it all into words.
Zimbardo's Stanford prison experiment has always been a disturbing subject for me. It is mainly based on what we discovered about human social roles, but the thing that kind of scared me was reading The Lucifer Effect by Philip Zimbardo, and in the foreword he basically addressed the prison experiment apologetically, saying that he never meant to let it get that out of hand. The thing that freaked me out the most was the fact that Zimbardo himself was so shocked by the results, and it was not at all a controlled experiment. He is lucky that people didn't experience severe psychological harm.
Many people bring up two psychological studies when talking about psychology and law. The Stanford prison experiment is one, and the Milgram experiment was the other. People try to say that the results of these studies contradict each other, because one says that we will just follow orders and obey (Milgram) when the other says that we will adopt a role without having to follow orders (Zimbardo). However, I think that the two studies complement each other quite well. The reason for them both being correct is that they are both social psych experiments. Milgram's study shows that people will obey the person who tells them what to do when they're in an unprecedented (awkward) social situation, where there's not necessarily a predetermined behavior after which a person can model their behavior. In contrast, Zimbardo's experiment showed that if there is a previous role to follow (like being a prison guard or prisoner), the person will model their behavior based on preconceptions. Milgram's study showed that there was some merit to the Nuremberg defense ("I was just following orders"), however that defense does not hold up. I would argue that only in an unprecedented situation, in extreme circumstances, should the Nuremberg defense be a valid one. This is because in most of our life situations, we have some sort of preconceived notion as to how others would behave in this situation, so therefore we model our behavior on that. If you model your behavior after an abusive prison guard, you ought to receive the consequences of being an abusive prison guard.
This particular experiment is taught in almost every psychology class, with very little variation in the information presented. There wasn't any new information presented in the website. I guess the most surprising information is just how horrible people can treat one another and how easily people abuse power. This experiment relates to psychology in several ways. It teaches about obedience. Even though everyone was well aware that this was an experiment very few tried to resist the power of the guards. They followed instructions and did pushups when they were ordered. This experiment also relates to psychology is humiliation. The guards took away the prisoner's uniform to embarrassed them. Another element of psychology seen in this experiment is group polarization. The groups from the beginning were seen as two very different very separate items. As the differences increased, the groups grew further and further away from one another.
I really enjoyed every part of this experiment. First off I thought it was very informative to the basis of what happens when the wrong people are in charge. The first part I would like to bring up was the entire process of the arresting of inmates. I felt that the way they did this set the entire outcome of the experiment. First of the police officers where dressed with sunglasses that started to build on the egos that the guards later portrayed. This psychological concept is very important because it gives them a taste of power where they soon can’t get enough of it.
Now looking at the other side were the inmates. From the very beginning of the experiment they were subject to having their ego broken. They first were humiliated by being arrested. They had to go through the entire process of the arrest to booking to being put in cells. Their freedom was taken away. Once that took place the prisoners were isolated bottled up with fear. They were then strip searched which brought on an entire new level of fear and humiliation which the guards in return fed off of. Then the identity of the prisoners was taken away by giving them a number instead of the name. I fell like this played a bigger role for the guards then the prisoners. I feel that this was because it took away the personal connection and empathy that comes with knowing someone by name. There is like a less of a connection.
Yes this experiment turned out inhumane but at the same time it taught our system that by giving people power could turn out to be bad. That there needs to be have certain rules regarding that power struggle. A lot was learned by this experiment but at the same time I feel if this experiment could be ran again it would have more positive outcomes if the structure was set up differently.
To be honest, I did not know anything about the Stanford Prison Experiment before I read the textbook and reviewed this website. The goal of the experiment was to observe what kind of psychological effects take place when becoming a prisoner or prison guard. To do this, a simulated prison was created.
I was really interested to find how realistic the experimenters made the prison scene. They took a lot of detail when designing their prison. They also arrested prisoner participants and made them go through realistic situation such as strip searching and delousing. Each prisoner was issued a number and was only referred to by their number in order to minimize individuality.
Over the course of this study, experimenters observed the effects of the roles on people. Guards often made prisoner do pushups as a type of punishment. The prisoners rebelled against the guards, which caused anger and frustration. In order to calm the rebellion, they actually used a fire extinguisher to force the prisoners away from the doors. Prisoners were stripped and the leader of the rebellion was placed in solitary confinement.
The guards took the power into their own hands and utilized it as a type of privilege. They refused some people from going to the bathroom, and from brushing their teeth. The guards fell into three categories: tough but fair, good guys, and hostile. Prisoners began suffering from emotional disturbances. They often had feeling as though they were actually prisoners rather than students volunteering for an experiment.
The experiment was ended early due to the effects of the experiment. I was amazed to learn how easily the minds of the participants were manipulated and changed. Within a matter of days the participants fell into their role. Their either felt powerful or helpless. Psychology is related to this experiment in so many different ways. Social psychology is present in the relations between the guards and the prisoners and between prisoners themselves. Essentially chaos was caused because of the relationships among the participants due to the roles they played in the experiment. Cognitive psychology is also present in the aspect that participants thinking was changed to be the role they played. They were often unable to separate their volunteered role from their real life realizing they were students who were volunteering. It was amazing to learn how effective this experiment was.It really showed how much the prison scene can change the mindset of the people taking part.
Before reading this, I had previously studied the Stanford Prison experiment in several of my psych classes as well as in my sociology class. I always thought the experiment was really interesting, especially because everyone included in the experiment got so into their parts. One thing that surprised me about the experiment was how much went into setting up for the experiment. I didn't know that they actually went out and "arrested" all the participants or that being a prisoner or a guard was decided by a flip of the coin. The experiment did a lot of research with submission to authority, especially when the humiliating strip and searches and delousing. This is a social psychological principle as well as a sociological principle. Like the experiment showed, because the "prisoners" were told to do these things by an authority figure, they obeyed. Eventually, however, the prisoners had too much and rebelled. A lot of symbols were used in the prison to remind prisoners of their status. For example, they wore frocks to emasculate and embarrass them as well as wearing chains on their feet to remind them of their oppression. These symbols have a lot to do with behavioral psychology because they were physical stimuli that were implemented to bring about certain responses in behavior.
I think one of the reasons the guards got so oppressive was because they were given very little instruction. They simply operated in a way that they thought prison guards would operate in. Also, the thrill of having power over other people seemed to be too much for some of the guards.
I was also very surprised that rebellion among the prisoner occurred so quickly. It was only the second day of the experiment. The way the guards handled the situation using psychological warfare was actually quite ingenious. They "divided and conquered" the prisoners by giving those least involved in the rebellion special privileges. This created a rift in the solidarity of the group, making it easier for the guards to control the prisoners. This is all due to social psychology. Now, instead of the prisoners seeing all prisoners as their "in group" and all guards as their "out group," the guards made the prisoners divide their group into several cliques, focusing their animosity on each other instead of the guards.
I can see a little bit of health and clinical psychology being involved in the experiment in regards to prisoner #8612, the ringleader of the rebellion. He started having mental breakdowns and was forced to leave the experiment when he was being especially punished by the guards for leading the rebellion. He was a smoker and the guards controlled his behavior by restricting his ability to smoke. Because he was most likely addicted to tobacco, a lack of the substance would start having an effect on his mental and probably physical health as well. It's possible that he went into withdrawal or became very stressed due to his environment and lack of access to nicotine.
My favorite part of the website was when the research psychologist discovered just how in depth he got with his character of a prison superintendent. He didn't even see his fellow researchers in the same way toward the end of the experiment. It just goes to show how being in a different environment can completely change how you think and behave.
This study teaches you a lot about human nature, authority, and the effect an environment can have on behavior. I really love learning about it because every time you see it, some new element of the experiment is brought to light.
I have heard about the Stanford Prison experiment quite a bit and watched a pretty good video about it when I was in Applied psych 3 or 4 semesters ago. This study influenced and changed the way psychologists view the influence certain roles have on us. It's crazy to think that a planned two-week long study had to be terminated after only 6 days.
The experiment needed 24 male college students to participate in a study that wanted to look at the psychological effects of being a prisoner or a prison guard. In order to get people to sign up for the experiment, they put an add in the paper looking for college males that want to make $15/hour. In total, 70 people signed up but it was brought down to only 24. These final participants were divided into two groups: prisoners and prison guards. Police cars were sent to the prisoners' houses to arrest them. This aspect was just about as real as it could have gotten. The sirens were going off as they went to the houses, the prisoners were put against the car and patted down...all while the neighbors were watching and had no idea that it was only an experiment. It is important to know that the two different groups were randomly divided. There was no specific criteria when determining who was in what group. Not only was this realistic, the place where the prison was set up looked like a real prison. Researchers had used the basement of the Stanford psychology building and made it seem like a prison. The prisoners were given a dress-like outfit with a number. That number was their identification. The idea behind this was that researchers wanted them to get the fill experience of being in a prison. By using numbers instead of their names created anonymity. They also wore woman's stockings on their head so everyone looked similar. This also made every anonymous. The guards were also given outfits that were similar to each other. This was not so much as to ensure anonymity, but to make them feel like they were in a position of power. They all wore sunglasses to hide their eyes as well as their emotions. If they were feeling bad about how they acted, the prisoners could not tell.
The first day of the experiment went relatively fine. There was nothing shocking to report, so researchers thought the study was going to go off without a hitch. However, by the second day, things changed dramatically. The guards started to become abusive when the prisoners did not obey. Things got worse and worse as the study went on. Prisoners had bags put over their heads and had to be told before they could even use the bathroom. The conditions were becoming awful. The prisoners were tortured and the prison guards went along with it. They felt that power and decided to use it as they saw fit. Not only did the guards torture the prisoners physically, but psychologically. When one of the prisoners wanted to exit the experiment, people started chanting "prisoner 819 is a bad prisoner." He could hear them chanting this and he broke down and started crying hysterically. He was then removed from the experiment. A few other prisoners had been removed from the study as well because they had shown some signs of psychological problems.
One thing that I thought was interesting was the role of the parents and lawyers in the study. The parents of the prisoners were allowed visitation times. Researchers did not want them to be worried about the conditions their children were living in so they cleaned up the prison and allowed the prisoners to be cleaned and shaven. In order for parents to see their children, they had to go through a series of steps. And, they were only allowed a very small time to talk to them. Some parents were disturbed to see the condition of their sons. Researchers had to intervene at this point and convince the parents that it was okay. A few more days had passed and parents became even more worried. They wanted a lawyer to step in and get their children out of the prison. The lawyers did come in and talk to the prisoners about the situation. This is interesting because the parents knew that they were part of the study. They got so caught up in the roles just like everyone else, that they forgot it wasn't real. Even the lawyers were a part of the study. The main researcher, Zimbardo, also got so caught up in the study that he briefly forgot that he was a research psychologist. After only 6 days, the study had to be terminated. Researchers became aware that guards were abusing the prisoners even worse after hours when the study was supposed to be "off."
I cannot imagine being a part of this study and going through what they went through, especially the prisoners. They knew going into it that it was just an experiment, but their roles had changed their mindset. All of the abuse they took from the guards created psychological distress. The guards also knew that it was just an experiment. They were given power and put in that role and were told that they could do just about anything, within limits, in order to keep the prisoners in check. They took this power way too far. They started to forget that it was not real. It is amazing that this can happen. There are so many aspects of psychology that are present in this study. The adaptation of roles is so important. They were told it was fake, but the idea of power changed things dramatically. Some of the prisoners had mental breakdowns and could not continue with the study.
4/5/2012
My first reaction to this site was how well it was set up. Like many psychology students I have heard of the Stanford Prison experiment. I have a basic understanding of what it was about before looking through this site. However, after finishing this assignment I have much more detail and a much better understanding of this experiment.
While I was reading the ‘setting up’ portion of the site I couldn’t believe that this would have ever passed our current IRB standards (in fact I’ll say with some certainty that it would not). I found it very interesting that these men were willing to be subjected to prison life for two straight weeks for only $15.00 a day. This really goes to show the underestimated outcome of this experiment – it’s severity was not foreseen.
During the ‘arrival’ portion of the site I kept thinking about the novel I read for our book reports. Abraham Bolden was the first black secret service agent in the White House; he was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to prison. During his full body search he said that was where he lost what dignity he had left. While reading through this site one slide mentions that when their ‘prisoners’ were have their body checks the guards suggested that they may have lice or other degenerating ailments.
In this experiment researchers strived to mimic or recreate the same psychological aspects to prison life instead of trying to recreate prison life down to the finest detail. Time plays into these situations and this study was set up for have a two week life span. They had to make the prisoners feel humiliated, insecure, emasculated, etc. They focused more on setting up this experiment to be more psychologically accurate than to be physically accurate.
I found it interesting and very questionable that the guards were allowed to do pretty much whatever they pleased. They were just supposed to keep these prisoners ‘in line’ by whatever means they could think of. It was noticed that guards started using similar methods as the Nazis in order to punish the prisoners. It is really discomforting to realize how easily we can slip into these terrible behaviors; and how easy it is to transfer responsibility. In terms of the Nazis it was a matter of survival – either kill or be killed. For this experiment it seems that guards could have been thinking that if their behavior and methods were out of line then the people conducting the study would stop them.
During the rebellion safety precautions were used as weapons, fire extinguishers. This was unexpected and there was nothing in place to address this type of problem – they decided to fight force with force. The prisoners were subjected to isolation and then race became an issue. Guards start viewing the prisoners as trouble makers. Not in terms of the experiment, but as people; the prisoners were bad people. Guards use extreme and harsh punishments. They started cutting the prisoners privileges.
After just 36 hours there were huge disturbances among the prisoners and there were very noticeable issues with the guards. Even friends and family, visitors, became part of the experiment and played along to these outrageous or extreme situations. The situation got much worse when there was rumor of a planned prison break – which did turn out to be just a rumor. This whole experiment was made up of real and fake situations. The fake situation was the prison setting, who the guard and prisoners were. However, the friends, family and priest that visited and interacted with the prisoners were real. This blurred the lines of reality. Many of the prisoners were released due to the heavy amounts of distress.
In the end the guards’ behavior either made them easy, fair, or brutal (in different words). There were notorious guards gained nicknames the same thing happened with the Nazis – scary! I thought I was very interesting the huge amounts of psychological distress and the amount of ‘realness’ that came so quickly with this experiment. Towards the end (the experiment was ended early) the psychological evaluations were done it seemed that prisoners had forgotten that this was an experiment – they took their roles and punishments so seriously! I think this study (though morally wrong) was and is very beneficial.
The Stanford Prison experiment is a very famous experiment in which researchers looked at the way people would treat one another if they were put in a bad place. This experiment was something that started out as a good idea, and ended making people think twice about whether or not this experiment was really a good idea. It definitely got out of control, probably more so than people expected. The results were a little frightening and eye-opening, which is why this is such a widely reviewed study forty-something years later.
One thing that is surprising to me, though I've read about this study before, is how cruel the guards were to the prisoners and how bad they were treated upon first arriving. They were stripped just like real prisoners, covered in spray to rid them of any lice or any other harmful germs, chained, and got a uniform with a prisoner's number on it. Their goal wasn't even to make an actual prison, but a place that would simply function like one. Yet it was turned into a prison quickly and was much worse than what a real prison would be like.
The way the guards took their role so seriously and the ways in which they tried so hard to keep order and make the prisoners realize who was in charge was also shocking. Making the prisoners do push-ups and having drills at 2 am. When the prisoners rebelled the guards struck back by shooting fire extinguishers at them to make them back down and then stripping them naked and taking away their cots. They then tried to outsmart them by using psychological tactics instead of physical ones.
This is how psychology came into play. Creating a privilege cell, good prisoners were given back their uniforms, got to eat better food, and got to brush their teeth. They switched up the prisoners cells and put "good" prisoners in "bad" cells and vice versa. Trying to break up the solidarity. They also wanted to turn the prisoners against one another and hopefully take away some of the aggression towards the guards. They didn't always allow them to empty the bucket they were allowed to go to the bathroom in, and they started paying special attention to the prisoner ring-leader. Allowing him to smoke at only certain times.
All of this took a great toll on the prisoners. Only around 36 hours after they started the first prisoner was released because of how emotionally stressed out he was. At first, they thought he was making it up and trying to get out of the experiment. When he was told he couldn't leave however he started acting crazy, going into a rage and screaming. Other prisoners suffered to the point where they wouldn't eat, wouldn't speak to anyone, and cried uncontrollably. By the end many were disintegrated. Many prisoners forgot they were just in an experiment. Prisoners felt helpless and scared. Some were acting crazy. While some of the guards were acting sadistic in their ways. This study is a dangerous but good example of just how far some people will go to fulfill a role they are asked to play. It also shows the ways people can be affected psychologically. However, it definitely shouldn't be repeated, which I think everyone realized at the end. A good example though on the lengths people will go to.
I really enjoyed reading about the Stanford Prison Experiment. I had heard about this research experiment previously in other psychology classes and an international relations class. I never read about it in such detail though, until now. I was shocked by the amazing amount of change that took place in the minds of both the prisoners and the guards. I learned a lot more about the beginning of the experiment and all of the steps they had to take to make sure they did not get volunteers who were particularly susceptible to developing mental disorders. I didn’t know that the volunteers that were selected were “surprise” arrested, but it makes sense. Including all the small details probably played a big role in how real it seemed to the volunteers. I was very surprised, not only by the extent, but how quickly the prisoners and guards started taking on the extreme behaviors of their roles. Another important fact was that the guards an prisoners were chosen completely randomly.
The use of an actual consultant that had been in prison before was a very good idea, I think. He provided information about how to make the mock prison as real as possible in order to get the best results. He was put in charge of the Parole Board, which I found interesting. He got so into his role, as did many participants, that he took on the same authoritarian behavior that he disliked so much in his own parole hearing. This could be because it was the only experience he had with the role and assumed all heads of parole boards were supposed to act that way, or he got a rush from the power he was given, even though it was just an experiment.
It seems crazy to me that even though these prisoners and guards knew they were a part of an experiment and it wasn’t real life, they still behaved in ways that suggested otherwise. I was shocked by the extent to which this project was taken. The guards performed actual strip searches and many other humiliating acts in order to degrade the prisoners. I would think that even for a prestigious school experiment, this sort of behavior would not be allowed, but I guess the prisoners knew what they were signing up for. It was observed that after going through such embarrassment, the prisoners actually changed their body language so that it was more feminine suggesting that they felt de-masculinized.
I also thought it was interesting that the guards were allowed to make up their own regulations as to how the prison would be run. This probably contributed significantly to the way they reacted to their roles. They felt that they had complete and total control over the prisoners, which in a way, they did. I was most shocked about the psychological reactions of the prisoners. It’s hard for me to understand how totally and completely the volunteers fell into their roles as prisoners. They even forgot that it was an experiment, and had to be reminded because of how severe the conditions were getting. I guess it would take being a participant to fully understand how hard it must have been to separate experiment from reality. Another thing that I learned was that these prisoners experienced similar psychological effects to POWs. This made me think about the book report I just did about wrongful convictions. I researched and found that many of the wrongfully convicted who are exonerated experience the same psychological effects as POWs and those with PTSD.
The Stanford prison experiment is something I am very familiar with from taking psychology courses throughout high school and even last semester. I have to say, though I never really focused as in-depth on the psychological concepts of the experiment as I did after exploring the slideshow on their website. Before I only skimmed the surface; understanding the experiment, what its purpose is, and the small things they found.
After going through their findings this time I was high surprised and even learned some new things about the experiment. Morally, I couldn’t believe they actually stripped the participants completely naked. Of course I understand the reasoning and importance of creating an extremely realistic prison environment, but one would think there would be some sort of law against the allowance of nudity in any kind of situation. Another thing that surprised me was the severity to which the experimenters, such as Dr. Zimbardo himself, falling victim to the psychological assumption of the prison superintendent. You would think his sanity would stay intact especially considering he had the most control over what was going on the entire time; he losing control seemed improbable.
The things I learned would have to be the most surprising concepts of all. If you present someone with a task or ask them to assume a role, and psychologically manipulate them into believing that no matter what they have to complete their allotted task, it affects who they are psychologically, mentally, emotionally, and sometimes even physically. For example, when a prisoner finally broke down and began to cry, Zimbardo placed him in a room to himself. The prisoner’s inmates began to chant his number and that he was a “bad prisoner”. Zimbardo wanted to release him but the prisoner insisted on returning to his cell to prove to the others that he was in fact not a bad prisoner.
Psychology has much to do with this experiment and is present in areas such as the social, behavioral, and cognitive concepts of psychology. When people are placed in groups, good or bad, they want a sense of belonging. Eventually once everyone is equal there will be a need of a leader or at least one with more authority or privilege. Social Psych helps to study this concept in this experiment with the example of putting some prisoners in “good cells” while leaving the others in the regular ones and then confusing the inmates by replacing those prisoners with the ones left in the “bad cells”. Of course studying the behavior of the prisoners and even the guards were the main goal of this experiment. Behavioral psychology plays a part assisting us in studying this such as the behavior of the men (guards) when there were escape attempts playing a part on the role assumption given to the guards. The guards show their embarrassment and in turn punish the prisoners more severely for trying to get over on them. It’s a remarkable discovery and all in all and every successful experiment.
I had never known the complete procedure and details behind the Stanford Prison Experiment until I looked at this website slideshow. The results of the study as well as the tactics used throughout the study all included psychology. This study as a whole surprised me.
It was very interesting before the experiment even began when they were conducting interviews and personality tests to see who would be able to withstand and undertake this experiment in the first place. There were many applicants but after the tests and interviews were taken, only 24 people remained. This related to psychology because they would not let people who were diagnosed with psychological problems, mentally disables or whoever had a history of drug abuse or criminal charges be in the study. What I couldn't help but notice was the lack of females in the study. I know this was performed a long time ago but I do wonder how the experiment may have differed if women were involved in the study rather than men because men seem to compete with each other for power compared to women who may be more likely to obey. When the experiment began, I was surprised the prisoners were actually arrested by the police and taken through the process of imprisonment such as getting their fingerprints done, being read their rights, and searched. From here they did not know where they were at because they were blindfolded. I was surprised by this because it is a very real simulation. I figured they would all show up and receive their clothes as what role they are and begin there but this experiment took it to a higher level and made it as real as possible from the start. I was very surprised when I became aware of the prisoners being deloused, strip searched, uniformed, and given a chain on their foot to remind them of their imprisonment. I felt this had a large psychological impact on the prisoners because what started out as an experiment may have switched to something more real to them by the way the situation had altered their appearances. When the prisoners were given uniforms, numbers to answer to rather than their personal names, and stockings over their heads, this psychologically altered the way each prisoner saw themselves. They did not have their own personal identity but rather a whole new identity as a number. This gave the prisoner a loss of his sense of self. The guards altered their appearances into uniforms which helped them get into their character as well. The sunglasses made it harder for the prisoners to read their emotions, making them feel more power and authority over the prisoners which made them already at a power advantage. The fact the guards had no training and made their own rules surprised me because real guards and policemen have actual training on what their job is. I felt this part of the experiment may have led to some of the poor results although the mental feeling of power over everyone else may have taken over the training anyway. The exercising of numbers took a toll on the prisoners mentally because the more they heard them being referred to as a number, the more they believed all they were was a number and nothing more. One of the prisoners explained that feeling at the end because he did not know who the person he was before the experiment was. This causes the person to become confused mentally about who they really are. The push ups which were used as a form of punishment may have been physical punishment but they were also psychologically punishing. When the guards would put their feet on the prisoners' backs as they did the push ups shows a sign of power and authority over the prisoners as if the prisoners were below them like a bug to be squashed beneath the guard's shoe. This was also a sign of punishment and power over the Jews in the concentration camps when the Nazi's were controlling them. The psychological tactics used after the first rebellion were astonishing to me. The guards were trying to break the solidarity of the of the prisoners and ended up making the prisoners not trust anyone. The fact the guards took away the uniforms from the prisoners and would not let the prisoners brush their teeth or even eat sometimes was very inhumane. This is a large point in the study to break that prisoner's morale and dehumanize them by letting them think they are not worthy of normal rights he has. The tactic of putting the bad prisoners into the privileged cell caused a large amount of confusion between the prisoners and caused more distrust because the prisoners thought others were informing the guards. This causes a more hostile environment and made it every man for himself. This made it hard psychologically because as humans, we need human interaction and when a person has no one to trust, it makes it hard for humans to form any sort of relationship with another person. This caused people to go insane. A few of the prisoners were released due to the psychological abuse. for example, #8612 was released due to acute emotional disturbance, disorganized thinking, crying and rage. This distrust and 'every man for himself' led #416 to be voted to stay in the solitary confinement instead of others saying they would give their blankets for him to return to his cell. No one cared about what happened to anyone, it was a torture chamber. The prisoners were even asked if they would give up all of the money they earned in order to be let out and they agreed. As the parole board deliberated, the prisoner was ordered to be sent back to his room when he could have gotten the same result from quitting right then and there. The prisoner, however, did not perform that action because he was so used to being overpowered and overruled that he believed he was in the prison. ONe of the prisoners had to be reminded he was a part of the study and not an actual prisoner in order for him to seek medical attention due to the harmful actions he was putting his body through. The psychological tactics used on the people also appeared to show physical consequences. One of the prisoners received a rash because he was rejected of parole. These effects caused him to grow sick because he was going through so much emotional stress. I learned any person no matter how normal he or she is can be overtaken when given the power of authority. It does not matter if a person has never showed signs of acting so crude while in power or not, power has the ability to consume a person's mind. Power gets to a person's mind and can lead people to do things he or she has never imagined himself/herself doing. I learned experiments like this one are completely unethical and can hurt people. One must remember the point of a study and know when it goes too far.
What most interested/surprised you? What did you learn? How does psychology relate?
The Standford prison experiment was very successful even though it only lasted six days. I felt that the experiment gathered a ton of valuable information. The experiment showed how prison life really does have severe psychological affects on people. The people in the experiment knew that they were participating in a study but some how felt that they didn't have enough control to leave the study. Not only the guards but the inmates as well showed changes in their behavior. The inmates seemed to become weak and vulnerable while the guards became more aggressive and strict. Some guards even would torture the inmates when they believed the study was on pause until the morning. Even though he felt that the study wasn't being conducted at the time the guard would still punish or harass the inmates while they were trying to sleep. The guards and the inmates took on the roles they were given. I felt that even though the study was only six days long the information gathered from this study was very surprising to me. What was learned from this study was not expected by the researchers at all but this experiment turned into a successful failure. Even though it ended sooner then expected they still were able to gather enough information to learn about how prison has psychological effects on the inmates.
The most surprising thing to me is how the inmates had three unsuccessful riots. Also the fact that actual lawyers were contacted by the inmates parents in order to get their children out of jail. I found it interesting how the parents became upset during the visiting hours and they wanted to take their kids home when they witnessed how their sons looked after only staying a few nights there. The role playing was also very interesting because I feel that the prison guards acted the way they did because they started to believe that they were guards and that is the life style they now own. By the guards harassing inmates even when they believe the study isn't running until morning shows that they are no longer showing normal behavior of a normal college student. The guards played the role so well that they actually became the role and to me there didn't seem to be two different personality traits but instead one person. The college boys went from being actors to then actually taking on the roles they were supposed to act. But instead the inmates actually believed they were in jail and the guards were actually securing the cells to make sure there wasn't an escape. I learned from this experiment that the mind is very fragile. People who know they are participating in a study can feel or believe it's real by experiencing stressors.
There were many psychological aspects that pertained to this experiment. For example social, cognitive, and behavioral psychology. Social psych applied to when leaders where formed in the group. This showed that in a real prison there is a hierarchy that the inmates follow in their groups and in the prison system as well. Cognitive psychology was shown with all the symptoms that the inmates experience. The hysterical crying, the rashes triggered by an over stressed mind, and the feeling of helplessness. Behavioral was shown when the inmates turned on one another when they believed they were informants instead of actual inmates. Also when the inmates and prisoners when from acting out the roles to actually believing that they were really inmates and the guards felt they were actual guards. I feel that this experiment wasn't supposed to turn out as successful at it did but now it is one the most popular cases known today.
It’s crazy how fast our human minds can be manipulated when put in drastic or even simple situations. Six days seem pretty darn short for a study, but if the volunteer guards were already abusing their power by day two, that didn’t surprise me at all that the volunteer prisoners were having their minds start going slightly crazy. Even a little manipulation can go a long way. Something that did surprise me was how the main guy who was in charge of this experiment got so caught up in his role, that he was a key reason why the study was stopped. Along that line the priest even came through on his role, which was really crazy to read about, because you wouldn’t think they would get into acting mode like that. I thought it was extremely unnecessary for the prisoners to be stripped down to follow through with a search when they first arrived to the prison. If I had to be a part of what happened after day one, I would of tried to get my butt out of there, so my emotions wouldn’t start acting up. I’ve never really been in a situation like this, but for a class I was in charge of controlling the media, which was basically everything that went out to the public. It was the media vs. the government. And eventually the government started to come up with rules and laws that made everyone who wasn’t a part of the government form a secret alliance and rebel against them. So then it became the people vs. the government and the people won out on day two, it was pretty interesting to see how far the government staff took their roles on. They had me furious by the end of the class period, I had to cool down with a walk.
Something that surprised me happened when the parents and friends came, how the guards cleaned up the prisoners and the place to make it appear to be a happier place then it really was. If I were one of the parents I would asked for my son to leave, pronto. I thought it was interesting when the guards would force the prisoners to do jumping jacks and push ups, I instantly saw the true side of how far humans can go with their brutality. Along that line I learned that’s what the Nazi’s use to do to their own prisoners. I’ve always been interested in learning reasons as to why the Nazi’s were so cruel and did what they did back in the Hitler days, and I like finding out new information each year about it.
Psychology is displayed in this experiment very deeply. Two of the prisoners displayed characteristics of hopelessness and despair when their emotions were reached to the farthest they could go. The poor guy who heard his prison mates yell, “bad prisoner” hurt the guy so much he actually broke down in tears, which then prompted the guy in charge to let him go away from this experiment to recuperate and try to find himself again. Also there was a lot of degrading of the prisoners going on during this experiment, by the way they were all arrested, fingerprinted, stripped to be searched, and by the uniforms they were all forced to put on with no underwear to wear underneath. It would of helped if these guards had been given an outline of what they were entitled to do to their prisoners, instead of just basing off what they felt like doing when they would get caught up in the moment. When they abused their power, the prisoners, especially on day two started to rebel. Having read about this experiment I definitely feel that we need to have more checkups on what’s really happening in all the prisons around the U.S. to make sure they are legit and not similar to what I read about here.
This is a very interesting website that I am actually quite familiar with. Last semester I wrote a research paper about the Stanford Prison Experiment for another course. I used this website quite often and actually corresponded via email with Dr. Zimbardo. I found this experiment so interesting because it was so real life. People signed up for the experiment, and if they were selected, they were randomly arrested by the people who were designated as prison guards. This “prison” was created in 1971 by Dr. Phillip Zimbardo.
Almost immediately after the experiment started, the prisoners fell right into their roles. The prisoners were forced to wear degrading outfits and the guards were supposed to maintain law and order. The guards stripped the prisoners down and began to make fun of their genitals. At first, Dr. Zimbardo believed that this might be a very long, boring 2 weeks. There is actually a very interesting video that I STRONGLY recommend watching. It is about 30 minutes long but it goes into a lot of detail and actually has people from the experiment talking about it years later.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkmQZjZSjk4
Prisoner 8612 took initiative to start a rebellion because he knew the experiment most have been created to prove a point. As punishment, prisoner 8162 was put into the hole and then the guards started taking their anger out on the other prisoners. Prisoners began getting woken up in the middle of the night forced to do exercise and clean toilets with their bare hands. This shows us what happens when you put good people in a bad place. This can explain many phenomons that have happened throughout history, including many military situations. It shows a huge connection between the Abu Abu Ghraib. I believe that this can also be related to Nazi Germany. Here is an article with even more information about the Iraqi prison scandal at Abu Ghraib. Another experiment that can be tied closely to this one is Milgram’s Authority experiment.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/prison-probe.htm
The clear form of psychology relevant to this website/experiment is Social psychology. The power of authority has an unbelievable impact on our lives. There have been hundreds of experiments that have shown us that citizens can end up doing things that they would NEVER do under the orders of an authority figure. If someone believes that someone else is in authority, they are much more likely to complete their orders. This can have terrible consequences as the Stanford Prison Experiment has shown us.
The thing I found the most interesting is how much the mind can be manipulated to make someone think that they really are in a position of authority or that they are in a position of inferiority. Although the people knew this was an experiment, they still took on the roles in a way that they were conditioned that the people who are actually in these roles in real life would operate. I remember learning about this experiment in both my sociology and psychology classes and it's definitely one of the most interesting things to learn about.
One thing to learn from this experiment is that people can so easily form into different roles and can be easily manipulated to act a certain way. What's so crazy is that no one was telling the guards or the prisoners to act the way they did or do the things that they did. They were doing this all on their own.
Psychology has a lot to do with this experiment especially social psychology. When people are put into positions of authority, such as the guards were, they instantly turn into what they were socialized to think people in positions of authority would act like, even if that's not what they actually act like in real life. They end up acting in a way that they never thought they could act and even surprise themselves with their behavior. Also the contact between the guards and the prisoners has a lot to do with social psychology because of the social interaction between the two groups. The prisoners try to act in a way that will please the guards and the guards feel as if they can make the prisoners do whatever they want to because they are in the position of authority.