I was really excited for this weeks readings because I have studied the Stanford Prison Experiment and find it extremely interesting. Basically, the person conducting the experiment assigned a group of people to be “guards” and a group of people to be “Prisoners” in his make-shift prison at the bottom of the building. The “guards” ended up taking their characters to extreme levels, almost forgetting about their previous morals and views. This interesting part is finding out why and how this happened. Primarily, the execution at the beginning of blindfolding and “arresting” the prisoners creates a sense of shock and confusion, possibly helping these people’s minds momentarily forget that they are in an experiment and allowing them to take on different personas. Secondly, the physiological effects of the humiliation make the whole event seem very real, not only for the prisoners but also for the guards. And finally, the fact that the guards were not given any restrictions on what they could and could not do showed how far from reality the volunteers minds could travel in order to fulfill the role of their character. This makes me think that it is good that real police officers have limits and boundaries stated that they can not cross.
The fact that the researcher also fell so deeply into his role of superintendent proved how easy it is to alter one’s persona due to the environment around them. This makes me think of LDST 102 when we talked about nature and nurture being mutual and not separate, but this study of how the change in environment led to the change in personality makes me question that the two are interrelated. One thing I do wonder is how quick they assimilated back into normal life was for both the prisoners and guards. Did they carry out normal life directly after or did they feel out of place and confused like most prisoners when they are released from jail?
I like how you mentioned the guidelines police officers have to follow. I actually thought the opposite when I read about the Stanford Prison Experiment. I became worried how the uniform might create different types of officers, the same way the experiment created three different types of guards. Whether restrictions exist or not, people respond to positions of power differently and become especially unpredictable if those restrictions aren’t enforced.
I feel like, people’s personalities definitely make a difference. They placed a person who enjoyed having control, in control. That’s your outcome, abuse of power.
I would think that after a such a traumatic, all consuming experience, it was not easy for either the guards or the prisoners to assimilate back to real life. Clearly the experiment had a deep impact on the participants and I think there must have been some emotional damage done that lasted longer than the 5 day experiment.
I also agree! The prisoners were made to feel as if they had no literal importance. Their identities were removed and replaced with numbers, identical garb and stocking caps. They were criminals. It’s so strange that even the scientist running the experiment thought that one of the “prisoners” was pulling a fast one on him, when he asked to leave early.
I was also shocked by the superintendent’s genuine investment in his prison. As a trained psychologist running the experiment, even he was more worried about foiling an escape plot than what that would show. If he reacted this way, it’s no wonder the guards and prisoners acted the way they did.
I completely agree with what you stated earlier. Due to the lack of guidelines given to the guards and the embarrasement that the prisoners faced when they were strip searched it made the abuse of power much easier to obtain. This experiment if conducted tody would go against the IRB.