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Theories Of The Stanford Prison Experiment

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3. What did we learn from the Stanford Prison Experiment? Include issues of ethics and methodology? Can the findings be generalised beyond this experiment? Background + Introduction: What was the Stanford Prison experiment, give details as to what the experiment was: The Stanford Prison Experiment was conceived by Phillip Zimbardo with the aim of the Experiment being to observe and analyse the psychological effects of becoming a prisoner or a prison guard. The experiment was funded by the United States Office of Naval Research who wanted to study anti-social behaviour (SPE website) 24 individuals were chosen for the experiment, all of them college age males. The individuals were assigned the role of prisoner or guard at random. With the aid …show more content…

However, the Stanford Prison Experiment, along with Milgram’s Conformity Experiment forced a change in the ethical procedures of the American Psychology Association. These changes included experiments having to be approved by an ethics board appointed by the APA. Ethical issues: Those involved in the experiment did not know the full extent of what the experiment entailed. None of the “prisoners” consented to being arrested at …show more content…

Zimbardo confessed that this dual role was detrimental to the experiment and subjected him to the conformity effect that Could the results of the experiment be applied meaningfully outside of the experiment? BBC prison experiment. The BBC prison experiment was conducted in response to Zimbardo’s experiment and set out to examine the consequences of dividing men into groups of prisoners and guards (BBCPrisonStudy.org.) The BBC experiment’s results were contrary to those of Zimbardo’s experiment. Zimbardo’s experiment believed that people would conform to an idea of what a group should be while in the BBC determined that a person’s willingness to adhere to a role when they make the role part of their social identity. The ability to reconcile a role with one’s social identity is determined by different factors. (BBCPrison Study.org) For the guards in this study, they were reluctant to identify with their roles as guards due to accountability. There was the possibility that they would face negative repercussions from their peers and from individuals outside the experiment if they adhered to their roles. (BBCPrisonStudy.org

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