Week Two - The Standford Prison Experiment

"What happens when you put good people in an evil place?
Does humanity win over evil, or does evil triumph?"


I believe that the Standford Prison Experiment was ethical. The psychologist did not know that this was how the experiment would turn out. Because of how the prisons acted and the guards reacted, the experiment was ended early. If the psychologist knew that this was how normal, everyday people would react in this type of situation like this and they still conducted the experiment, then it would be unethical.
I was surprised, though, that they altered the environment and the look of the jail just to mislead the parents and visitors.
     "The next day, we held a visiting hour for parents and friends. We were worried that when the parents saw the state of our jail, they might insist on taking their sons home. To counter this, we manipulated both the situation and the visitors by making the prison environment seem pleasant and benign. We washed, shaved, and groomed the prisoners, had them clean and polish their cells, fed them a big dinner, played music on the intercom, and even had an attractive former Stanford cheerleader, Susie Phillips, greet the visitors at our registration desk."


I believe that this is how any prison experiment would turn out. It's done every day in prisons all over the U.S. and in other countries. If it was any different, I would be surprised.