Positive And Negative Consequences Of Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment

Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment is one known for its many positive and negative outcomes, as well as giving an outline of negative ethical practices when conducting a research using humans. However, the process of constructing such an experiment was originally done with good intentions, not expecting those involved to suffer psychological changes. There were two purposes to inspire the conduction of this study. First, researchers wanted to observe what kind of norms will develop in a psychologically stressful situation. Secondly, to discover the changes in behavior when a group of peers, of similar situations, are given either a position of uncontrolled power or a position of expected submission. In this case, the group of peers was a …show more content…
While these forms of measuring the experiences of the individuals could be considered valid, it would not necessarily be considered reliable. In order for a study to be reliable, it would have to have the ability of being replicated by other researchers, who would then come up with similar results. Unfortunately, the experience of the study depended on the individual’s way of coping with stressful situations, and, even in Zimbardo’s study, the reactions among the young men were different. There were also concerns of selective sampling as the video and audio recordings generally only showed the dramatic points of the …show more content…
Throughout the documents leading up to the creation of the prison, it was clear that certain criteria was either not met or changed. The duration of the study was frequently changed throughout the course of the paperwork. Within the procedure section of the IRB paperwork, the researchers depicted the study was to only last a week, then change to a range of five days to two weeks in the general information form of the prison study. The application for institutional approval also depicted that the prisoners were supposedly to be offered a time to study as well as activities in the form of movies. Throughout the experiment, it was not depicted that the prisoners were given any time to study or activities equivalent to movies. However, it was clearly stated to the IRB and participants that there would be various moments of possible humiliation, a consistent lack of privacy, and a strong strive for obedience within the study. There was also a clear reasoning for the inability of prisoners to leave unless under severe psychological stress. With these clear instructions, there is not a sign of deception. The conditions of the study were given to the IRB and the participants, the severity of the conditions could not be predicted, but the actions were still within the guidelines given for approval. Due to the graphic nature of the experiment, and the psychological damage caused to the young men, this