Homework #4
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Algonquin College *
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Philosophy
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Jan 9, 2024
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Hybrid Assignment 4: Stanford Prison Experiment Response
1.
If you were assigned the role of a
prisoner in the Stanford Prison Experiment, how do you think
you would have behaved in response to the guards’ behaviour from beginning to end?
Refer to specific acts of the guards throughout and how you would have responded to them.
I personally believe I would have atempted to try and endure or get through the guards' behavior,
clinging to the hope that it would eventually get beter and improve. As their demeanor got worse, I
might have become more passive and recessive, seeking safety in acquiescence. I'd like to think that
knowing the goal of the experiment would have helped me maintain some psychological distance
though. Sole acts made by the guards, like psychological strain and humiliaon, would likely lead to
feelings of powerlessness and surrender. I also do believe
This raises quesons about the responsibility of
researchers to ensure the well-being of parcipants and informed consent.
2.
If you were assigned the role of a guard in the Stanford Prison Experiment, how do you think
you would have behaved in response to the prisoners’ behaviour, especially aer their rebellion
on the morning of Day 2?
When the convicts ended up rebelling on the second day, especially if I were in the posion of a guard, I
could have had a mixture of fear and desperaon to regain the control I once had. I might have reacted
similarly and ended up developing a stronger sense of autocracy and acvely sought to destroy any form
of opposion, or I might have started to doubt the morality of my own acons, which most likely would
have caused inner conflict.
Upon witnessing the insurrecon, I may have reevaluated the extreme acons I
was taking and potenally reconsidered my behavior. Normave influence does become apparent as
prisoners conform to escape their penales, while informaonal influence becomes evident as they adopt
the guards' conduct to beter comprehend their predicament.
3.
Do you think that we would all tend to act immorally under immoral circumstances, no mater
how good we may be under normal circumstances? Discuss with reference to situaonal vs.
disposional atribuons of behaviour (p. 82 of our textbook, covered in Week 4)
The queson of whether people act immorally under immoral circumstances relates to the situaonal vs.
disposional atribuons of behavior. The Stanford Prison Experiment suggests that situaonal factors can
lead individuals to further engage in immoral behavior. However, this doesn’t always necessarily mean all
people would 100% act the same way in such menoned situaons, as disposional traits and personal
ethics also play a role in all of this.
4.
Do you think that the parcipants knowing that they were being photographed and filmed as
part of an experiment (rather than in an actual prison) have much of an influence on their
behaviour, much like with “reality” TV today? In other words, what effect did demand
characteriscs have on the experiment?
The fact that parcipants knew they were being observed likely had a significant influence on their
behavior, leading to demand characteriscs. People might oen change their behavior when they know
they have eyes on them/are being watched, whether in an experiment or on reality TV, making it difficult
to truly and genuinely determine the true effects that the situaon itself has on said person. Demand
characteriscs can falsify the true effects of the experiment overall, which makes it challenging to noce
the genuine impact of the social dynamics at play in the prison environment that was set as a simulaon.
5.
What are the main flaws of the Stanford Prison Experiment with regard to its scienfic
methodology and ethics? Do these render the results meaningless? (You may want to draw
from the Konnikova and Dunning arcles, as well as the Stevens video, linked above.)
Specifically, involve responses to the following in your answer (in 20-35 words each) numbered
as shown below:
The Stanford Prison Experiment has faced quite a lot of criticism over the years, regarding its scientific
methodology and ethical considerations. These criticisms definitely raises some doubts about the
meaningfulness of its results.
5a.
When Zimbardo’s colleague passed by and asked him what the experiment’s “independent
variable” was and Zimbardo responded angrily, what did the colleague mean by that? What could the
independent variable have been?
The queson of the independent variable arose from Zimbardo's colleague's inquiry over the precise
element that the experiment sought to modify or assess. This experiment's absence of a disnct
independent variable rendered it less rigorously scienfic, which was a shortcoming.
5b.
What biases may have been involved and how would they have affected the results?
The results might have been impacted by biases such as confirmaon bias, selecon bias in the recruitment
of parcipants, and researcher prejudice in their capacity as prison superintendent. These prejudices may
cause preexisng ideas about the funcons of guards and inmates to be reinforced.
5c.
Despite the experiment’s flaws, how might the results be used to make the world a beter place aer
all?
The Stanford Prison Experiment's findings can nonetheless be ulised to spread awareness of the
possibility of abuse of power in certain circumstances, despite its shortcomings. We can beter design
tests and intervenons to stop such abuses and encourage ethical behaviour in real-world scenarios by
looking at the ethical and methodological challenges it presented.
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