Stanford Prison Experiment

The study was conducted for two purposes. First, the study was based on investigating the root cause of confrontation between the prisoners and correctional officers.  Second, the aim of the study was to investigate the dispositional hypothesis (Craig, Zimbardo & Banks, 1973).  In other words, dispositional hypothesis is testing whether the brutal condition in prisons is contributed by the character traits of prisoners and correctional officers.

Twenty four men who were mentally and physically fit were involved in the study.  An experiment was used as the research method and the data collected was qualitative. The qualitative data was obtained through direct observation, video and questionnaires (Craig, Zimbardo & Banks, 1973).  The study was taken in Stanford’s psychology building.  Some of the materials for the study were three cells, Solitary Confinement, Guards Quarters, guards’ uniform and prisoners’ uniforms.

In conducting the experiment, out of 24 men, 9 men were selected to be prisoners. While they were in the participants’ house,   prisoner guards came, accused the men as burglars and arrested them. They were taken to the police station and as they arrived, pictures and finger prints were taken, they were given uniforms and they were detained in Stanford County Prison (Craig, Zimbardo & Banks, 1973).  Prisoners were provided with rules and regulations of the institution.

The findings from the study showed that the study was designed for 14days, but due to unavoidable circumstances such as pathological reactions of prisoners, the study took 6days. The study showed that the prisoner guards were abusive and this made prisoners to develop   emotional depression to an extent that 5 prisoners were discharged before the due date (Craig, Zimbardo & Banks, 1973).  Many prisoners were unable to endure the condition and on the second day, they created a plan for rebellion.  However, the prison guards become more aggressive and reacted to the prisoners’ rebellion with fire extinguishers.  The findings showed that prison guards extended their working hours and punished the prisoners with no justification.  Prisoners complied with the rules and endured the unendurable (Craig, Zimbardo & Banks, 1973).

The study concludes that the conflict between prisoners and prisoner guards is not created by dispositional attributions, but rather it is as a result of situational attribution. The argument tends to convince that the participants’ brutal behaviors were not caused by   their internal characteristics but they rooted from the prison environment (Craig, Zimbardo & Banks, 1973). Before the study, the prisoner guards were not abusive and this means that their roles shaped their behaviors.

 

 

 

 

 

Reference

Craig Haney, Zimbardo Philip & Banks Curtis (1973). SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY; STANFORD PRISON

EXPERRIMENT.  

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