Assignment 2: The Stanford Prison Experiment

My Views on the Stanford Prison Experiment.

 

I was mainly disgusted by this research experiment; stripping them naked was uncalled for as it is, although I know this happens in some prisons even today. I know the prisoners (in real life) have done awful things to be put in prison in the first place, but  is no reason to treat them like vermin either. I do not think prisoners nowadays deserve internet access, cable TV, things like that; but beating them, withholding food, putting them in physical danger health wise, is not ok to me.

 Shooting freezing g cold carbon dioxide at the “prisoners” was taking things too far, at men they had half naked, in a cold basement. Why not just stab them in the arms with vials of live pneumonia and kill them?

Not allowing the “prisoners” to wash, eat in some cases, or use basic hygiene, is a horrible thing to do to some people who were kind enough to volunteer for this experiment.

They could have just put them in a jumpsuit and stuck them in a cell, no tv or books, fed them through a hole in the door, and let them out into the hallway they used as a “yard” in the school basement once a day for a half hour, and see what happened to their state of mind that way. Not put them in physical danger from the men they designated as prison guards, who after a few days let the power go to their head.

When Dr. Zimbardo’s Yale alum came to visit and asked him what the independent variable was- when Dr. Zimbardo got angry, he should have seen that as a problem and cancelled the study right away, as he was getting too deeply involved, instead of putting the lives of normal innocent men at more of a risk. I feel he was a selfish individual and should have been jailed for putting American citizens at risk, and charged with assault. He may not have been the person assaulting the “prisoners”, but he was ultimately responsible.

In real life, it sickens me that this kind of behavior happens in prisons all around the country. Some people are in prison for check fraud, and small things like that. Why do they deserve to be treated this way by these prison guards on a power trip? Some guards nowadays, you see them beating and humiliating the prisoners; I believe when it gets to that point, the guards should be fired and arrested for assault as well.

They could have used a less invasive (and kept others out of potential harm) way of researching, like the use of surveys, or Ethnography: with surveys, they could have sent actual paper surveys to prisoners out on parole, to ask how they were treated, and how life was. If they really wanted an experience, Dr. Zimbardo could have used a form of Ethnography, and had himself put into a real prison, the whole nine yards, for a week, and then he would have had plenty to write about. A form of research like that could never be performed today, almost 40 years later, due to the unethical nature of the study.

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