I think that experiments like this are really interesting. It is fascinating to see how people will respond to power, both having it and not having it. The fact that the guards got so violent and aggressive so quickly is baffling to me. Since we cannot redo this experiment, because it turned out badly last time, we must look at other examples of situations like this. During my junior year of high school, I took a psych class and we talked about this also. My teacher said that something like this happened in real life in a US military prison in the middle east. I don’t remember the name of the prison but situations like this arise more then I expected when I first learned about it.
The psychology behind things like this is really interesting to learn about. Just watching how people respond differently to different situations is fun for me. All of the cognitive and chemical reactions that go into making choices and responding to stimuli in the world around you, and how tiny changes in those things can change your whole outlook on life. It’s also interesting how we define heroes and villains. There was the prisoner who went on a hunger strike could have been seen as a hero but instead was seen as making a fuss.
It kind of horrified me the way people responded to power, especially in the example of the guards. It really emphasized the importance of a lot of systems we have in place that prevent a lot of chaos that could happen. Which really speaks to the necessary changes we need in our current prison system because there is still a lot of that chaos and misused power.
It was fascinating in the Stanford Prison Experiment to see how perception of these individuals influenced their roles. Those that had power adapted very quickly to what they thought a prison guard would act. It makes me really think about how abusive a lot of power can be and how that has affected prisoners of all offenses.
I also found it fascinating how quickly the guards role of power turned from aggressive to cruel. I discussed this in my response as well, and I think learning about different roles people have when it comes to those to whole power versus those who are oppressed would be interesting.
I know exactly what you’re referencing when you brought up that U.S military prison. I can’t remember the name either but what happened was crazy and very inhumane.