The Stanford Prison Experiment-A Simulation Study of the Psychology of Imprisonment

[babylonsister]

The Stanford Prison Experiment


A Simulation Study of the Psychology of Imprisonment
Conducted at Stanford University


Welcome to the Stanford Prison Experiment web site, which features an extensive slide show and information about this classic psychology experiment, including parallels with the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib. What happens when you put good people in an evil place? Does humanity win over evil, or does evil triumph? These are some of the questions we posed in this dramatic simulation of prison life conducted in the summer of 1971 at Stanford University.

How we went about testing these questions and what we found may astound you. Our planned two-week investigation into the psychology of prison life had to be ended prematurely after only six days because of what the situation was doing to the college students who participated. In only a few days, our guards became sadistic and our prisoners became depressed and showed signs of extreme stress. Please join me on a slide tour describing this experiment and uncovering what it tells us about the nature of human nature.

http://www.prisonexp.org/

[islandgirl808]

1. this is exactly what this whole situation reminds me of

human nature can be very ugly :scared:

[TheMadMonk]

2. Good luck getting a response. People round here don't like...

...to be reminded that the only real difference between them and Lindy England is lack of opportunity to discover just how like her they are inside.

Accoding to the few respondents I get when I bring this experiment up, not one of them has ever taken part in bullying, stood to one side while bullying went on around them, hazed, or even teased their baby sister/brother.

[edhopper]

3. Add to this

the Miller Obedience to Authority experiments and you get a clearer picture of human nature in these circumstances.

[Solly Mack]

4. The Milgram Experiment as well

Milgram

[islandgirl808]

5. that was a good one too

crazy, isn't?

[TheMadMonk]

6. T'would appear that I was right.

A good many people around here would much rather blindly hate the tormenters and torturers, the soldiers turned rogue and/or rapist, bad cops and even Blackwater thugs, than admit, even (especially?) to themselves, that, all else being equal, there's a better than two thirds chance that they would behave like monsters themselves given the right pressures and circumstances.

Well people it's about fucking time these cowards did admit it. Perhaps then we might get to the real crux of the whole sorry mess. The master manipulators, the ones who have taken these experiments (and probably many more done in secret) and turned making monsters out of men and women like you and me into an artform.

[Hannah Bell]

8. exactly. as well as producing the same operant forces in everyday life.

they do the research for a reason, & it's not benign. they've been doing for a very long time.

[annm4peace]

7. ret. FBI Agent Coleen Rowley often refers to this study

she said she would use it in teaching ethics to FBI agents.

Maybe she could head the CIA and clean house.

[Hannah Bell]

9. people don't learn ethics from classes, though. they learn them from the behavior of others.

why would anyone pay attention to a class when everyday life teaches a different lesson?

[robinlynne]

10. wow. haven't even looked at the link yet. 6 days.

[drmeow]

11. Zimbardo has become

famous based on methodologically flawed research. The two most significant methodological flaws with the Stanford Prison Experiment were that the subjects self-selected for the study and the situation was not actually allowed to develop naturally.

"In summary, in this study, volunteers who responded to a newspaper ad to participate in a psychological study of prison life, an ad virtually identical to that used in the Stanford Prison Experiment, were significantly higher on measures of aggressiveness, authoritarianism, Machiavellianism, narcissism, and social dominance than those who responded to a parallel ad that omitted
the words of prison life, and they were significantly lower in dispositional empathy and altruism."

Carnahan, T & McFarland, S (2007) Revisiting the Stanford prison experiment: Could participant self-selection have led to the cruelty? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. Vol 33(5), May 2007, pp. 603-614

Yes, social situations affect social behavior ... but you have to have some inclination for the behavior to being with.

[babylonsister]

12. I found out about this study from a Vet who witnessed torture:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5518234&mesg_id=5518234

On Torture
by: Kayla Williams
Wed Apr 22, 2009 at 13:58:47 PM EDT



I witnessed detainee abuse in Iraq and did not report it. This moral failing is my own burden, one I will carry with me for the rest of my life. But it has also influenced how I look at headlines about torture, from Abu Ghraib to the recent revelations about GITMO.

The detainees I saw being abused might have been guilty when they came in. But I am sure that after being treated the way they were, they walked out full of rage and more likely to attack Americans. On a larger scale, I believe that the ability of insurgents in Iraq and terrorists worldwide to use US treatment of detainees in Iraq and GITMO for propaganda has caused significant harm. According the Washington Post, Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair agrees that waterboarding and other 'enhanced interrogation techniques' (read: torture) do more harm than good: "The bottom line is these techniques have hurt our image around the world. . .The damage they have done to our interests far outweighed whatever benefit they gave us and they are not essential to our national security."

After the Abu Ghraib scandal broke, I talked to the Warrant Officer who was in charge of the Cage (what everyone called the detainee holding facility) where I witnessed detainee abuse. He told me that he had gotten the impression from friends and colleagues -- the Intel Community is a small world -- that those "at the highest levels" were sending out clear signals that detainees in the Global War on Terror did not need to be treated according to the standards required by the Geneva Conventions for enemy prisoners of war.

Well, the recently declassified Congressional report released Tuesday confirms this -- according to this New York Times article, the paper trail leads directly to Rumsfeld.

There have been lots of questions raised -- about the history and effectiveness of these techniques, the impact on those tortured, the larger foreign policy implications -- all of which are important considerations. There is, however, one aspect of the conversation that I believe has been neglected: What does this do to those committing the acts?

more...

http://www.vetvoice.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=2685