ENGL 1102

Learning Journal
UNIT 03

Find your own study to examine this week. Do not use either of the studies in
this week's discussion assignment. For your Learning Journal, you are to fill out
the following form. Remember, use complete sentences and proper APA In-Text
Citation and References. This will help you with your critical reading skills and
your ability to research.

Answer the following questions in complete sentences, as provided for use by

Cumbria University:
1. What is the title of the text and what is the text about?
Stanford Prison experiment continues to shock (Leithald, 2011), it is an article related to an
experiment that took place on the Stanford University in California in the year of 1971.
The experiment was intended to use some volunteers and put them on prison situation
where wardens and prisoner’s roles were assigned to the participants (Leithald, 2011, para.
2). The experiment involved into a harsh scenario with involved power abuse that can be
related to a really scary psychological frame.

2. What is the author’s view? How do I know?

According to the author interviews, the guards became authoritarian, and the scientist
were negligent with the incidents, because the main goal of the experiment was to watch
what happens.

I believe this is the author's point of view because it's very explicit in some paragraphs,
like when one of the volunteer’s answers was:

"I kept looking for the limits - at what point would they stop me and say 'No, this is only an
experiment and I have had enough', but I don't think I ever reached that point." (Leithald, 2011,
para. 17)

This makes you think that the experiment was out of control, no more human reasoning
was involved only instincts.

3. What is the evidence presented by the author to support ideas?

The author interviewed some of the actors, involved on the different roles. There was a
one phrase that make you understand that something was wrong on the experiment, or
everything maybe, when the author asks to one of the volunteers:

"The experiment was the right thing to do, the wrong thing was to let it go past the second day,"
he said. (Leithald, 2011, para. 19)
The wrong thing was to continue with the experiment for six days.

4. Is the evidence valid? How do I know?

This time the evidence is completely clear, volunteers were really annoyed by the
experiment, even the abusers. One of the volunteers with the warden role mentioned that
he did horrible things that he wasn't sure he was capable to do (Leithald, 2011), this is a
clear statement that things were really out of control with the experiment.

5. Is the evidence relevant? How do I know?

This time the evidence were the participants of the experiment telling their points of view
as being the actors on this. Is totally relevant, and there is no way to refute what they felt,
even the "aggressors" think that this was wrong.

6. Have I heard/read anything similar or dissimilar? What was it?

I actually remember another experiment of this kind, the name was "The Milgram Shock
Experiment", which was also related to authority, and involves authority. There were
some people with the role of teacher, and some other with the role of learner. The
experiment was to make electric shock damage to the learners when they did a mistake.
At the end, some of the participants with authority roles abused of their power.

7. Do I agree or disagree with the views expressed by the author? Why?

I agree, how I mentioned on the lines above, there is no way to ignore the volunteer’s
opinion to the press. The actions that were taken on the experiment crossed completely
the line, there is also mention of torture involved.

Remember: If you use a quote or paraphrase, you need to give the proper APA
citations and references.
Your instructor will use the following rubric to grade your Learning Journal:
Aspect 1: Did the student fill out all of the questions fully?
Aspect 2: Did the answers tell you what you wanted to know about the study the
student read? How effective are the answers in showing points of view and
subject?
Aspect 3: How would you rate the answers for originality? Are they mostly
original answers without a lot of quotations or paraphrase?
Aspect 4: How clear were the answers to you? Could you read them easily? Did
the student make his or her view point known? This can include items like
spelling and grammar as well as the overall flow of the answers.
Aspect 5: If needed, were proper APA Citations and References used? Give at
least 1-2 sentences of feedback here.
References
Alastair L., 2011. Stanford prison experiment continues to shock. BBC News, [San Francisco, USA].
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-14564182