Zimbardo's experiment - Assignment Example

The plight was shown clearly in the “Stanford Prison Experiment” video. 5. There are a few ethical concerns regarding this psychological experiment. Firstly, the participants were not informed about the experiment appreciably since Zimbardo himself was unaware how stressful the experiment could become hence the consent of the participants was not fully informed. The “prisoners” were not protected from physical or verbal harm. Physical punishment such as pushups was imposed. Videos show prisoners wailing and crying and in sudden fits of anger outburst as well implying the level of torture. 6. Zimbardo after the abrupt end of the experiment drew a few conclusions.

A situation centered approach where external factors affected a person’s behavioral context. The experiment could also be used to explain the stressful impact of institutional force on normal and healthy people. The experiment showed how under stress and extreme humiliation and torture a perfectly healthy and stable person turns evil. a. I would ask the researcher if he/she was aware of the ethical codes laid down since the experiment design was did not comply well with a few codes. One more question would arise in my mind that how would the experimenter understand about the mental state of the participant who utters slangs or figurative speeches since it is more common that stressed individuals use slangs more than stable and normal people. b. Alternatively I would ask the researcher to change the experimental design keeping in mind experimental obligations of researchers.

Also I would ask the researcher to be more ethical in his approach and keep the ethical boundaries in mind before designing an experiment on human psychology. Permission for recording is also supposed to be asked in case one wants to record picture or voice. Next, the limit of confidentiality