Dumb question - I read about this on Wikipedia and it said that the guards abused the prisoners and made them go without food & bathroom breaks, made them take off their clothes, and do all sorts of humiliating things.
Why didn't the test subjects quit the experiment? $15.00 a day isn't worth being treated like a real prisoner.
Or is it?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_prison_experiment
i haven't read all the posts so it may have been answered but..
the prisoners didn't "quit" because they came to feel that they were actually prisoners and conformed to the role they were given.
To put it on our level, just think of it when you sit in class. You raise your hand and do not speak out of turn when the teacher is talking and you keep certain comments to yourself. This is not an equal comparison, but something we can understand. Everyday we knowingly and sometimes unknowingly conform to an authoritative figure. Participants knew they had the right to quit. It is a right that was spelled out for them in an informed consent document which they had to sign (so whoever said they were told they couldn't quit is misinformed). But "Addicted-Junkie" said it perfectly...they became their role and acted accordingly. And because Zimbardo remained present throughout the study as a "warden", they thought they had to continue with the study. To learn more about the influence of authority figures, check out Stanley Milgram's obedience study which is facinating and shocking (ok so that is a pun--check it out and you will understand! haha)
shareI studied this in my psychology classes also and the experiment was terminated after 6 days because of the mental and physical health of the "prisoners" was so bad. I believe before it was terminated one if not more "prisoners" had to be hospitalized.
jamie
I THINK there was a whole contract involved, which prohibited them from quitting whenever they wanted (this did not violate any of their rights at the time).
I had the opportunity to listen to Philip Zimbardo speak about this experiment in person last year. When asked about it, he said that he only stopped the experiment because his wife convinced him it was unethical. Had she not said anything, Zimbardo would have continued with it and the "guards" would have continued abusing the "prisoners".
Despite all the bad things that happened, you have to admit this was a pretty genius idea.
We did a very watered down "mock" experiment in my high school psych class. No one had heard of this experiment before, our teacher just came in an assigned us to teams. The Gold team were the leaders and set all the rules, the blue team were the subordinates and had to ask permission/follow all our rules. Our teacher purposely split up groups of friends, couples etc, and after a day or two you wouldn't believe how much people had changed to fit their roles. When it was all said and done I think we were all both embarrassed and scared that it was that easy to change us. I find this stuff fascinating, look at Jim Jones he was able to convince all of those people to follow him, work for him and be his enforcers simply by giving them those roles. Very interesting stuff.
shareI just finished my 5th year of studying psychology and i've got to say this is one of the most interesting studies i've read about (and in great detail too). I can't wait for this to be made into a film, I just hope they don't change some details that they think are unneccesary but actually ruin the point completely and make the whole thing unwatchable for anyone who knows anything about the subject (as a lot of movies do these days). I know a lot of people are wondering how it could be made into a film, and to be honest I think it would be quite easy, they could easily show the point of view of the prisoners as the situations get worse and the emotional trauma they go through and also cover the point of view of the guards so the viewers can understand why they are doing what they end up doing (which gets REALLY bad at times) and hopefully they'll successfully show that everyone has the ability in them to do these horrible things if they feel they're 'supposed' to. Conformity to authority is something Milgram also covered in great detail, although that would make a rubbish and repetitive film, it covers the same sort of points.
I think the casting for this film is amazing (as a teenage female it's quite obvious one reason why I think this), i've seen the majority of the cast before (I don't watch the OC) and I know charlie hunnam (sp?) and channing tatum have the ability to play the darker roles and still show that they are 'real people' and not some kinda psycho's that no1 can relate to.
Sorry about the essay guys, I guess my point is, this film will either be AMAZING or annoyingly rubbish, depending on the angle they go with and the 'plot' they stick to.
xx
The experiment was to test conformity and obedience, and to see how far people would adopt the roles they were given. They drew lots to see who would be guards and who would be prisoners. The professors stood back and they were more or less left to get on with it over the course of a six weeks (could have been a month. The guards did shifts and began to invent ways of making the prisoners lives more miserable. The prisoners began to behave like prisoners and conform to the stereotypes, even thought they were all students, and previously equals.
The experiment was a resounding success in that the two sets gave themselves over to the roles completely - the guards being able to become quite inventive in the various unpleasant ways they treated their prisoners. However, some students began suffering from psychological problems within a few weeks and Zimbardo had to step in and end it early.
It's unlikely, in todays society, where the safety of subjects is way up there on the agenda, and the likelihood of being sued is right up there beside it, that the Stanford Prison Experiment would ever get the green light.
It remains, however controversial, a stunning piece of insight into the human psyche and goes a long way towards understanding how societal atrocities like the Nazis' etc could ever grip an otherwise normal population.
Dear Macadam122,
Your "analysis" couldn't be further from the truth.
Perhaps you should could do us all a favor and do a little research before you make such factually inaccurate statements about an event that is so clearly documented in the public record.
Thanks.
They end the experment because it became abuse for the prisoners. At first the project was going great and then a few days in they left the "guards" alone with the "prisoners" and everything went to hell. They couldn't even finish it. Because of cases like this is why we now have the code of ethics. And one of the principles is FIRST DO NO HARM. Also the guards were set up to act they way they did. They were allowed to by whatever type of uniform they wanted from a custome shop and were told that they had free reign. What they did not expect was the physical abuse. Also when particpants wanted out they were forced to stay by the guards. Basically they were being held hostage.
share"Also when particpants wanted out they were forced to stay by the guards. Basically they were being held hostage."
It wasn't the guards who forced them to stay, and one participant did actually leave, it was Zimbardo who was talking to the prisoners who wanted to leave that convinced them to stay, in an unprofessional way he implies that they don't have a choice when they did.
they did stop the experiment after 2 weeks.. it was supposed to go for at least a month or more.
shareYes the guards did do all of those things. It was actually one prisoner who went on a hinger strike that ended the project. The reason why no one left was because one back then $15 an hour was a lot of money and two when they were briefed on their roles they were told to act like prisoners. Meaning that they were all under the assumption that they could not leave. The guards also were given free reign, meaning they could do whatever they wanted to do. When the prisoners first arrived they were striped of all of ther cloths and searched, the guard would make them chant whatever they told them to and they were woken up all hours of the night. When another prisoner acted out all of them were punished. Punishments would include: having their pillows nd bed taken away, being locked in their cells, refused food and cloths.
shareThe game slowly but surely became real, the abuse was a slow process and they were eased into it.
One person did quit. And one person asked for parole from Zimbado. Beond that they just forgot it was a game.