Stanford Prison Experiment Ethics

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Stanford Prison Experiment Ethics Heads or tails? The simple gesture of flipping a coin was the dividing line that determined ones fate. Prisoner or guard. On August 17, 1971, (Konnikova, 2015) was the morning that 24 Stanford student volunteers (Shermer, 2015) will remember for the rest of their lives. Social psychologist Phillip G. Zimbardo conducted an experiment called The Stanford Prison Experiment. This experiment took place in the basement of the psychology building located at Stanford University. It was transformed into a miniature prison where the identities of Student volunteers were stripped to pieces and replaced with the title of Prisoner, or Guard. The hunt to find the student volunteers was not a challenge at all. The…show more content…
The prison guards were required to wear “‘military-style' intimidating uniforms”. Also they were given sunglasses so they can avoid eye contact. (Shuttleworth, 2008) The prisoner’s attire is consisted of a stocking cap like hat, chains on their ankles and “smock uniforms” without undergarments. On these uniforms there were specific numbers stitched onto them. The prisoner’s identities were completely washed away and replaced with these numbers. The uniforms were meant to “dehumanize” them and remind them that they have the status of a prisoner. (Plumridge,…show more content…
“The guards were not allowed to physically harm the prisoners” (Eddy, 2010), but that line was crossed many times during this experiment. The experiment got so cruel toward not only the physical, but also the psychological health of the prisoners, Dr. Zimbardo had to terminate it only after six days. (Burgemeester, 2011) . In the movie The Stanford Prison Experiment, which depicts events that actually occurred, the guards played physiological tricks on the prisoners. The prisoners were lead to believe that they actually committed crimes and couldn’t leave the experiment. One main thing that the guards did to physically and psychologically harm the prisoners was to tamper with their sleeping schedules. They would wake the prisoners in the middle of the night and have them do exercises, and once they were done, they were permitted to go back to sleep (Ratnesar, 2011) By doing this the prisoners lose sense of what time of day it is so they have no idea how long they have been in prison. When Richard Yacco asked Zimbardo to be released, he responded "You can't quit—you agreed to be here for the full experiment" (Ratnesar, 2011)by saying this, it out Yacco deeper into the mindset that he was a prisoner and could not leave. Some of the guards knew what they were doing but wanted to set a tone for the other guards. They didn’t view what they were doing
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