Out-of-class Activities The Stanford Prison Experiment - Essay Example

REACTION PAPER ON STANFORD PRISON EXPERIMENT Reaction Paper on Stanford Prison Experiment. The Stanford Prison Experiment was one of the most controversial experiments that were terminated prematurely due to the moral implications it carried. The experiment was conducted by Dr. Phil Zimbardo of Stanford University on August, 1971. The two-week experiment recruited participants by publishing an ad in a newspaper. The research participants were composed of white, middle-aged, healthy men who resided near Palo Alto.

Originally, there were 75 applicants but only 24 were selected after several emotional and psychological tests were made. The applicants were given an application that contained procedures, informed consent, effects and confidentiality. Primarily, the applicants were curious about the experiment and liked the idea of earning $15 a day which was a good pay then. In my opinion, I think I would join the experiment if I would be playing the role of a guard prison. It is very hard to imagine playing the role of a prisoner who has been deprived of his basic rights.

The group was divided into two using toss-coin method, a participant can either be a jail guard or a prisoner. The very beginning of the experiment were made as realistic possible. The Palo Alto police force supported the experiment and conducted the arrests that started the experiment. In fact, the simulation was very realistic as rules for prisoners were set at the beginning of the experiment by the jail guards. The arrested men were blind-folded in the station and began feeling anxious as they awaited the next part of the experiment.

Their fears were confirmed when they were stripped naked and sprayed with germicides. For the first time in their life, the volunteers felt how dehumanizing it is to be imprisoned. Everything was designed to feel realistic – the costumes, the shaving, the created cells, the rules etc. What the researchers didn’t realize was that human behavior can change over a short period of time. Jail guards who didn’t have any previous training became true to their roles as they punished prisoners. The prisoners reacted in different ways; they showed disgust, fear, hopelessness and anger.

Even the visitors of the prisoners were subjected to time limits when talking with their boys. Surprisingly, the chaplain that was asked to counsel the boys acted as if he was the chaplain of that facility. Surprisingly, even the researchers showed emotional involvement instead of avoiding actions that would put bias in the experiment. The experiment progressed smoothly at the start as the participants played their roles. Some of the prisoners even rebelled at the new situation and became unruly.

What surprised the researchers is the fact that the prison guards who were intelligent, middle-class men became mean and cruel. As days passed by, the prisoners showed signs of emotional distress and began losing their own identity. The participants, especially the guards, eventually forgot that this was just an experiment because they became upset after the experiment was prematurely terminated. The experiment was terminated thanks to the observations of Christina Maslach who saw the dismal situation of the inmates.

The researchers have overlooked the moral implications of the experiment mainly because they themselves showed bias. Instead of recording observations objectively, they too were disturbed upon hearing rumors of a riot. They participated in the experiment by collaborating with the Warden in finding ways to control the situation. Such actions indicate a loss of control on the side of the researchers. The main findings of the experiment revealed that average individuals can blindly follow an ideology and play the roles given to them despite their background.

People can be detached to their own personality and take on roles that have been given to them as what the study has shown. Indeed, there were many ethical concerns such as violation of human rights as the participants were really degraded and punished physically. They were emotionally tortured during solitary confinement. In fact, one of the volunteer inmates found his experience as disturbing and would affect him for the rest of his life. The only best recourse then was to provide the participants counseling sessions that could eventually heal them from the psychological scars of the experiment.

Despite the criticisms, I believe that the experiment imparted important contributions in the field of human behavior. I would agree on how the simulation procedures were conducted because that is the only way to see how people would behave in the experiment. The only thing that went wrong is that the researchers lost control of their own roles. In my opinion, the most striking part of this study is how people can change when they are made to believe in something. This is exactly what happens to people who follow certain ideologies who become overzealous.

In the end, such individuals can commit crimes against humanity like Hitler’s Gestapo who were conditioned to hate the Jews. Everything begins with a belief and professions who influence the thinking of others like teachers are laden with such a big responsibility. Wrong value systems can also begin at home especially when parents themselves condition their children by using fear or intimidation. Indeed, people should be accountable to how they influence other s by always checking on ethical and moral sides of a decision.

References Stanford Prison Experiment.Slideshow. Retrieved from http://www.prisonexp.org/ on Feb 20, 2011.