the standford prison experiment

Question 1

outline the procedure

Answer 1

• mock prison in basement of psychology department at Stanford uni
• male volunteers were psychologically and physically screen and randomly assigned to play prisoner or guard.
• prisoners were unexpectedly arrested at home and then given a prison uniform and ID number.
• prisoners had certain rights: 3 meals and toilet breaks a day and 2 visits a weeks.
• guards were given uniforms, whistles, reflective sunglasses and clubs.
• zimbardo was prison superintendent
• planned to last 2 weeks

Question 2

what happened over the first few days

Answer 2

the guards grew increasingly abusive towards prisoners

Question 3

describe the findings of the experiment

Answer 3

• even when they were unaware of being watched they still confirmed to their roles.
• 5 prisoners had to be released early due to crying, rage, anxiety.
• study was stopped just after 6 days due to Christina Maslach who reminded the researchers that this was a psychological study.
• both guards and prisoners conforms to their social roles.
• guards were cruel and sadistic, prisoners were passive and accepting of their plight

Question 4

explain the strength that due to the SPE there has been improvement of the prison system

Answer 4

• Since Zimbardo’s study showed how abusive and unfair the guards were to the prisoners and that there is evidence of this behaviour in real life prisons (Abu Ghraib), Zimbardo hoped to improve the prison system through his study.
• There have been some reforms of the prison system from his study, especially in how juveniles are treated

Question 5

explain the limitation of the problem of demand characteristics

Answer 5

• Banuazizi and Movahedi argued that the behaviour of the participants wasn’t due to their response to a compelling prison environment but instead it was a response to demand characteristics.
• they presented details of the SPE to a group of students who had never heard of it before. The majority guessed the purpose of the study-volunteers would conform to roles and guards would be hostile whilst prisoners would be passive

Question 6

explain why the study was ethical

Answer 6

• it followed guidelines of the Stanford uni ethics committee that had approved of it.
• there was no deception as participants were told in advance that their rights would be taken away
• however, Zimbardo realised that it should have been stopped earlier due to participants experiencing emotional distress.
• Zimbardo did debriefing session after experiment and concluded that there were no lasting negative effects on participants

Question 7

explain the strength of the experiments relevance to Abu Ghraib

Answer 7

• Zimbardo argues that the same conformity to social roles that was seen in his experiment were also seen in Abu Ghraib military prison- known for the torture of Iraq prisoners by US soldiers.
• he suggested that situational factors (lack of training, boredom etc) were present in both the SPE and at Abu Ghraib.
• these combined with an opportunity to misuse the power associated with being a guard, lead to prisoner abuse in both situations.