MovieChat Forums > The Stanford Prison Experiment (2015) Discussion > So how do you think you would cope in th...

So how do you think you would cope in this situation?

posted 11 years ago by pearlimaew
43 replies | jump to latest

I have discussed this topic ad nauseum with my friends. I came to the conclusion that if I were a "prisoner" in this situation, I would fight the guards tooth and nail if at any point I were unjustly treated--I have a pretty short temper at times. If I were a "guard" I think I would enjoy the temporary power that had been given to me, and trust that the prisoners had strong enough minds to tell me when enough was enough.

If this were real--I have no idea. As a prisoner I would do whatever was asked of me to avoid being tortured/killed, but I like to think that if Uncle Sam came to me and said "Hey we need someone to guard these political prisoners from wherever" I would do the morally right thing, whether that meant guarding them while treating them compassionately, or flat out refusing to. But perhaps I am just flattering myself. How would you cope?

[–] Neuronhead 9 years ago

I think if I was a prisoner I would have been, yeah okay, ride out the two weeks. Easy.

But when it got bad I would have wished I was a guard, and the guards were the prisoners so I could have done to them what they were doing to me.

Maybe I would have even tried talking the other prisoners around to trying. Maybe.

More probably I would have been like, meh, I can tough this out. Maybe get the little prick after the experiment was over.

I choose to believe what I was programmed to believe

[–] eoval 9 years ago

Ever been in jail before? Scared as hell at first, then you cope, then it becomes normal.

"I do not like mixing up moralities and mathematics."
Churchill