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How would this experiment work outside the U.S.?

posted 9 years ago by Mamabadger56
8 replies | jump to latest

I'd like to have seen this study done simultaneously in several different parts of the world, to see if the reaction of guards/prisoners was similar everywhere. It's difficult to do more than speculate at this point, but I have to wonder if the American attitude toward authority, control, obedience, etc had any effect on the way the guards and prisoners interacted. Would it be significantly different if conducted in other nations around the world?

[–] stan-18673 9 years ago

It was done on British TV I seem to remember (I think about 10 years ago), I can't remember whether the guards and prisoners were aware of the Stanford experiment or not, but it was hyped up as the experiment that had previously only been tried once before, and had to be abandoned after 5 days as it became too unethical to continue.

I was going to try and recall events but my memory is a bit hazy (I think the prisoners rebelled, the guards being mindful they were going to be on television were 'weak' in response, and it all got cancelled before the prisoners got completely out of control), so instead I'll just point you to this which explains it in more detail http://www.bbcprisonstudy.org/bbc-prison-study.php?p=20

[–] Mamabadger56 9 years ago

That's a completely different outcome from start to finish! Interesting. Thanks for the information.

Tell me the truth. Are we still in the game?

[–] stan-18673 9 years ago

Yeah I think the ring leader of the prisoners had actually been an inmate in a real prison (I didn't see that mentioned in the link I posted, although as I say my memory is a bit hazy). I remember he was from Liverpool and spoke with a very strong working class accent, but he also came across as very intelligent, and had the gift of the gab, big guy too. So he was obviously a very dominant personality, which could be one explanation why the experiment went differently. He didn't seem like the violent sort, but you probably wouldn't want to test him or mess with him either to find out.

[–] Sabre-El 9 years ago

So, you know what I got from this experiment (not just the UK one)? That it was *beep* By only watching Day 1 of the movie, I realized that it was only 2 of the guards who seemed to be taking it overboard, and they also happened to become their shift leaders. Had they not be there, it was more likely that the guards would just play out in a normal way, keeping in mind that it was an experiment, and it would have been much easier to finish 2 weeks

Clark: Jonathan Kent; isn't it a little past your bedtime?

[–] stan-18673 9 years ago

So, you know what I got from this experiment (not just the UK one)? That it was *beep* By only watching Day 1 of the movie, I realized that it was only 2 of the guards who seemed to be taking it overboard, and they also happened to become their shift leaders. Had they not be there, it was more likely that the guards would just play out in a normal way, keeping in mind that it was an experiment, and it would have been much easier to finish 2 weeks

That's the thing with groups, there is always someone who wants to take over.

If the experiment was repeated many, many times in secrecy, I think what you would see is that one group will almost always attempt to exert their dominance, whether that is the guards or the prisoners just depends on the personalities within the group, and finding instances where there is an immediate harmonious state of equilibrium would probably be rare. It might be the tribal nature within us.

Although of course you can never really be too sure until the experiment is repeated many times.

[–] andyd-1 9 years ago

That's a very good point, people try to take over.

- my first job was in a department that had been put together from scratch, and it had a relatively young and weak leader - guess what, the wrong type of people started fighting to take over everything and run it all their way. It's the likes of which I've never seen again thank goodness.

[–] TheBthDoctor 9 years ago

with mass Beheadings.

[–] bing-57 9 years ago

> It's difficult to do more than speculate at this point, but I have to wonder if the American attitude toward authority, control, obedience, etc had any effect on the way the guards and prisoners interacted.

You also have to keep in mind that this was at the height of the Vietnam War and took place at a rather progressive California school. I'm sure that the students were well aware of, and probably participated in, war protests and so on. So, all the participants were already spoiling for a fight.

> Would it be significantly different if conducted in other nations around the world?

Probably. Just like it would be different with women or mixed genders, older people, unemployed people, children, and so on.

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