Movie Review:

Tiltle: Standford Prison experiment

Characters:
 Billy Crudup Dr. Philip Zimbardo
 Michael Angarano Christopher Archer
 Moises Arias Anthony Carroll
 Nicholas Braun Karl Vandy
 Gaius Charles Paul Vogel
 Keir Gilchrist John Lovett
 Ki Hong Lee Gavin Lee /3401
 Thomas Mann Prisoner 416
 Ezra Miller Daniel Culp /8612
 Logan Miller Jerry Sherman /5486
 Tye Sheridan Peter Mitchell /819
 Johnny Simmons Jeff Jansen /1037
 James Wolk Mike Penny
 Nelsan Ellis Jesse Fletcher
 Olivia Thirlby Dr. Christina Maslach

Summary:
This infamous Stanford Prison Experiment has etched its place in history, as a notorious example
of the unexpected effects that can occur when psychological experiments into human nature are
performed.Like a real life ‘Lord of the Flies', it showed a degeneration and breakdown of the established
rules and morals dictating exactly how people should behave towards each other.The study created
more new questions than it answered, about the amorality and darkness that inhabits the human
psyche.As a purely scientific venture, the experiment was a failure, but it generated some results that
give an insight into human psychology and social behavior. The ethical implications of this study are still
discussed in college and undergraduate psychology classes all across the world.

Martyn Shuttleworth (Jun 22, 2008). Stanford Prison Experiment.

Retrieved From:

Nov 03, 2019 from Snakk Om Mobbing: https://explorable.com/stanford-prison-experiment

Title of the experiment: Stanford Prison Experiment

Name of the main experimenter: Dr. Philip Zimbardo

How many subjects? 75 responses, the 24 male subjects judged to be most mentally and emotionally
stable were selected. Mainly middle class and white, they were divided into two groups randomly, of 12
prisoners and 12 guards.

What is the sampling method/Techniques used? To conduct the Stanford Prison Experiment, Zimbardo
constructed a mock correctional facility in the basement of Stanford University.
Adverts were placed in local newspapers offering $15 per day for participants in this program. Of the 75
responses, the 24 male subjects judged to be most mentally and emotionally stable were selected.
Mainly middle class and white, they were divided into two groups randomly, of 12 prisoners and 12
guards.

Ratnesar,R. (November 2018). Stanford Prison Experiment.

Retrieved from https://www.ukessays.com/essays/sociology/an-examination-of-the-stanford-prison-

Enumerate and explain the ethical guidelines that have been violated by the experiment:

1. Right to Withdraw- A fundamental tenet of ethical research is not soliciting participation under
coercion. Although the participants were initially informed of their right to withdraw their
participation in the study, it was subsequently revoked.
2. Avoiding Harm - prisoner participants fully participated in their roles and could not help but
to be subjected to the reality of their circumstances. The prisoner participants were taken
through the actual process of being arrested and detained. The guard participants, like the
prisoners, were fully engulfed in their roles. Their unjust treatment of the prisoners became
more brutal as they got deeper into their roles They felt a sense of empowerment when given
responsibilities.

McLeod, S.A (2008). Zimbardo-Stanford Prison Experiment.

Retrieved From: fromhttp://www.simplypsychology.org/zimbardo.html

3. Boundaries and Competence- Dr.Zimbardo admitted that he did not have any firsthand
knowledge about prisons prior to conducting the study.
 4. Debriefing– The study also failed to debrief participants until several years later, at which point
it was difficult to assess what level of psychological harm had occurred as a result of
participation in the experiment.
5. Deception/Informed consent- participants were informed of the conditions they would
experience, there were other conditions in the experiment, such as being arrested by a real
policeman at their home and the level of degradation to be experienced over the course of the
experiment had not been outlined in sufficient detail. Deception was evident throughout the
study and as such was unethical.
6. Protection from Harm-Ethical guidelines for the protection of participants from physical and
psychological harm were developed as a result of the Stanford Prison experiment.

If Done in the present time, do you think Mr.Zimbardo’s experiment is still feasible? Why or why not?

Dr.Zimbardo wanted to show that middle-class young people will turn on each other just because
they're given a role and given power. I think whether we try and discredit the study simply because the
findings are shocking and highlight the negative, scary side of humanity. This is obviously what
happened with the Zimbardo’s study not only in this experiment in actual life this happens.
For me it clearly Violate the six main ethical guidelines so it is hard to grasp exactly why it is still
considered as an Experiment. I feel that experiments that happened in the past should not be slated for
being Ethical when they are compared to todays ethical guidelines.