Is the Stanford prison experiment unethical? Explain your answer.
Is the Stanford prison experiment unethical? Explain your answer.
The research by Zimbardo and his colleagues was aimed at finding whether the brutality reported among the guards in prisons was due to sadistic personality or sadistic behavior exhibited by the guards or was influenced by the environment of the prison. 24 male students from Stanford University were selected to play the roles of prisoners and guards, 12 under each category.
The participants were asked to stimulate their respective roles in a mock prison for an 8 hour shift. The prisoners were made to wear the prison uniforms and even chains around their foot. And this was to give them the experience of a real prison and force them to act submissively. The behaviors of participants were recorded by microphone and cameras installed.
The experiment was supposed to last for 14 days but it was stopped in 6 days abruptly when the guards became highly abusive and prisoners began to show extreme stress and anxiety. Slowly even the researchers began to dissociate from the aim and the situation of the research. They started ignoring and overlooking the abusive behaviors.
Zimbardo and his colleagues reported that the experiment demonstrated the role that a situation can play in human behavior. As some students assumed the position of power, they behaved differently than the students who acted like prisoners.
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