Reference no: EM133528533

Question

To study the social psychology of imprisonment, an experiment was conducted in which they could observe behavior in a simulated prison environment where the inmates were male college student volunteers, as were the guards. Members of both groups received $15 a day for their participation. The expected duration of sentence was two weeks. The simulated jail, in the basement of the psychology building at Stanford University, was divided into cells with bars on the doors and equipped with the minimum amount of furniture; the toilets were public. The mock prisoners were "arrested" in realistic manner by the local police department, booked, stripped, examined, given prison clothes and a number, and incarcerated. The guards were in uniform with silvered sunglasses, billy clubs, and handcuffs. The atmosphere was oppressive.

The results of this experiment were dramatic; seemingly typical college students began to behave in strange ways. The Pseudo-prisoners became increasingly disturbed; the Pseudo-guards became quite brutal. After three days, the first prisoner was released because he showed signs of severe emotional disturbance. Before the experiment was prematurely terminated after six days, three other prisoners of the total ten had to be released because they were seriously disturbed. The guards also were affected. They relied heavily on physical force and harassment. For example, one of the guards commented: "I was surprised at myself...I made them call each other names and clean the toilets out with their bare hands. I practically considered the prisoners cattle, and I kept thinking I have to watch out for them in case they try some- thing."

The investigators were surprised by the relative ease with which sadistic behavior could be elicited from normal, non-sadistic people and the extent of the emotional disturbance that emerged in young men selected precisely on the basis of their emotional stability. The pathology observed in this study cannot be attributed to any pre-existing personality differences of the subjects. Rather, their abnormal social and personal reactions were a product of their transaction with an environment whose norms and contingencies supported the production of behavior that would be pathological in other settings but was "appropriate" in this prison as these could have considerable impact on the administration of prisons and prison-reform efforts.

What are some of the major point of emphasis for perceiving ethical conduct from the experiment?