MLO 2 Stanford Prison Study

Together with psychological experiments such as Milgrams and the Bobo doll study, the Stanford prison experiment has continued to be one of the most notorious, namely for the brutalizing effects on research participants. In order to draw relevant conclusions from this study, we will examine the importance of hypothesis testing, sampling procedures, the significance of this study despite its small sample size and the real world implications of this research. The Stanford prison experiment was designed to show the power of social forces on behavior and to reveal the underlying importance of the psychological nature of the situation versus the psychological nature of the individual. For this experiment, participants were randomly and evenly assigned to either the guard group or the prisoner group. The setting was created to resemble real prison life. The independent variables were the assignment to either group and the brief instructions given to each role. Guards were told to remain order but were not given details on how to act and behave. As predicted, they succumbed to demand characteristics, however, to a more severe extent than assumed. Prisoners were told they would have daily activities such as meals and free time but were also not given any instructions on how to behave. The dependent variables were the transactions between and within each group. The researches collected data through video and audiotapes, direct observation, questionnaires, mood inventories, personality tests, daily guard shift reports, and postexperimental interviews (Haney, et. al, 1973). Through these collection measures, researchers looked at the relationships among subjects and the changes in behavior.

At the start of the study, there was no specific hypothesis to be looked but rather several ideas and beliefs. The researchers predicted that assignment to either guard or prisoner would lead to changes in attitudes and behaviors towards self and others. The experiment uncovered the common misconception that prisoners in real life have a common deviant behavior type (before incarceration) and guards have a sadistic attitude that draws them to those positions. Experimenters wanted to see whether the pathological ramifications of being within a prison system could actually be the cause of distorted behavior among individuals. The study did find that the nature of the individual (deviant or normal) is not the problem, the situation causes people to adopt anti-social behaviorisms despite personality differences. Random assignment was imperative to this experimental design because it guaranteed no difference between the groups, in other words, both guard and prisoner groups were identical to each other. Random assignment confirms that the results would not be tampered with by biases. The researchers used college male participants between the ages of 17-30 who volunteered for the study. Before being chosen, the participants had to pass several tests/background checks first to ensure that they all had no history of crime, emotional disability, social disadvantage, etc. All subjects chosen had above average intellectual and emotional stability. The researchers wanted to make sure that the participants were representative of a normal population of people. Half of the participants were randomly assigned to act as guards and the other half to act as prisoners for one week- although the study ended prematurely at 6 days. During the experiment, prisoners displayed very oppressive behavior: dependency, depression, helplessness, etc. They also seemed to have lost their personal

identities; the majority of conversations among prisoners consisted of prison talk (other inmates, food, treatment, etc.) rather than anything from their outside lives. Most guards found satisfaction in their new power and found the job to be rewarding. If these symptoms occurred in a period of six days, imagine the implications of spending or working years in the prison system. The study shows that most people transform and adapt to new roles and demand characteristics based on their environment. Critics often point out that the SPE is not statistically significant due to the small sample size. Although this is true, the results were still significant in explaining behavior to conditions. The independent variable (assignment), had a major impact--beyond expectedon the dependent variables (interpersonal processes). Prisoner 416 gave a statement saying that he felt as though he was losing his identity and did not think of the study as an experiment but rather as an actual prison. Likewise, some of the guards were surprised with how little they felt for the prisoners. They were able to internalize their role as a prison guard and cease their real identities, which is precisely how they were able to treat the prisoners is a brutalizing and degrading manner. This shows the power of social forces on ones behavior leading to severe reactions from both groups (Haney et. al, 1973). Five prisoners had to be released early from the study because they showed symptoms of acute emotional disturbance (Haney et. al, 1973). Many of the guards took on their role too seriously to the point of severe acts of aggression and humiliation towards the prisoners. It is important to look at these results over a short period of time in order to compare it to the effects of chronic incarceration. We must consider, the toll which it takes on the deterioration of human spirit for those who administer it, as well as

for those upon whom it is inflicted, is incalculable. (Haney et. al, 1973).) Although follow-ups revealed that the negative effects of this study were only temporary in participants, years as a prisoner in a real life setting can have much more damage on a persons mental health. It is hard to imagine that exposing any person to that sort of system, whether as a guard or prisoner, would not have a major impact on that persons overall life (mental health, personality, opinions, etc.) Although the effects were temporary in this study, with longer exposure its likely that they would become more lasting.