Stanford Prison Case Study

Authority, abuse, and submission can be used to describe how situational experiences could open the door for an ordinary person’s normal temperament to be radically converted in an extraordinary situation. Consequently, this was the case regarding the Stanford Prison Experiment, headed up by Dr. Zimbardo in 1971 which, was a study to provide an understanding of how designated roles within a prison can evolve. While I reviewed the study, I was led to questions such as, how I might have handled the situation, where would a Christian perspective fit in, and were ethical lines crossed in the pursuit of knowledge. In addition, I self-reflected on how I would handle being imprisoned, what perceptions a real prisoner might determine about a guard,

The first issue for me has a simple answer which, is no, I do not believe a person’s well-being should be ignored be at the cost of academics because human life is more valuable. I also believe extreme experimentation could give the field of psychology, and higher-education in general, a poor reputation. As for whether or not the prison experiment could be performed today, the answer would be no, due to the unethical nature of it. I worked in the Psychology department at the University of Colorado Boulder, and witnessed firsthand the strict regulations researchers and faculty must follow in order to conduct studies with human subjects. Kenrick et al. (2015) discussed how institutions, such as CU Boulder, work with the institutional review board to help ensure a researcher’s proposed study is above par regarding the welfare of the potential subjects (p.

A significant example was in 2010 when Dr. Zimbardo appeared on the Dr. Phil show and made this haunting statement "I became indifferent to the suffering of the prisoners” (The Stanford Prison Experiment, 2010, para. 10). I would like to believe that if a person has a strong Christian, or moral foundation, they might not surrender their ethics so quickly, as did the majority of the volunteer guards. In terms of social psychology experiments, I believe the crux of the matter is with respect to whether or not the transformation of behavior would lead one to a constructive or destructive attitude. Consequently, I feel researchers should place their primary concern with their subjects, and not their