...psychological research of the Stanford Prison Experiment conducted at Stanford University in 1971. Ethics will be defined and the concept of risk/benefit ratio will be discussed. The Stanford Prison Experiment will be described. Finally, the impact of the Stanford Prison Experiment on psychological research will be evaluated. Ethics Defined Ethics is concerned with the principles of right conduct. In the philosophical use, ethics is a branch of philosophy that is concerned with the study of morals and how it is that moral decisions are made. Ethics also has a stricter use when dealing with the rules or standards that govern conduct and right behavior (The American Heritage Dictionary, 2000). Risk/Benefit Ratio Ethical approaches to research take into account the risk/benefit ratio. This simply means that the amount of benefit that comes from a study or research clearly outweighs any adverse risks to the subjects involved in the study or research. A study or research is only considered to be ethical if there is favorable risk benefit ratio (Wikipedia, 2008). Background on the Stanford Prison Experiment The Stanford Prison Experiment was created by Professor Philip Zimbardo who led a team of researchers at Stanford University in 1971. The study was designed to observe and study the human responses to captivity by both the inmates and the authority figures. In order to carry out the experiment, a mock prison was created in the basement of the Stanford psychology building and 24...
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...According to APA, Zimbardo’s prison study was important in showing that “good people can be transformed into perpetrators of evil, and healthy people can begin to experience pathological reactions.” It showed that situational power can influence and change individual attitudes and behavior along with the dangers of role-play. The study has influenced many other prison studies and can be seen in many psychology textbook as well as classroom. It has been used as a reference for various real life prison situations that deal with abuse of the prisoners. According to APA, it has been used in the Navy SEAR program to educate about the potential dangers of role-playing. The downside of the study was the physical and psychological harms suffered...
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...Many studies and experiments of the past still face scrutiny by researchers, scientists and many other people in all different fields today. Many of them have been criticized due to their unethical treatment of their subjects. Because of this, the psychological community has established a special group of people and guidelines called the Institutional Review Board that analyzes whether or not a study is ethical before it is even allowed to proceed. This board was established in 1974, three years after a study known as the Stanford Prison Experiment was conducted. The Stanford Prison Experiment began in 1971 when a psychologist named Philip Zimbardo came up with a question; he wanted to know if the brutality reported among guards in American...
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...Zimbardo Research Paper Dr. Zimbardo conducted a research study in 1971 where he took 24 male college students and divided them randomly between guards and prisoners. The guards created a “prison” like set up for their prisoners. The prisoners were arrested by real cops, blindfolded, hand cuffed and taken to the simulation prison where the guards brutalized, dehumanized, tortured them. The study was to see how behaviors change based upon a setting they were put into. Throughout this paper it will come to light on how unethical this study was but also how it changed the ways in which studies are now required to be handled with human participants (Films Media Group, 2012). Value of the Study in Relation to Social Psychology Dr. Zimbardo’s research study was able to show how healthy participants quickly changed their psychological and physical behaviors when they were placed into a prison like environment. The 24 participants were all good people who were put into a very bad situation where they had to choose to stay good or conform with the environment and do what they felt was rational behavior. This study was to last two weeks and after six days Dr. Zimbardo finally shut it down. This is because the prisoners were showing signs of extreme depression and stress anxiety, while the guards were becoming very abusive, hostile and dehumanizing the prisoners. There were only a few people who were able to not let conformity consume who they really were and destroy their...
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...In this experiment, an individual was directed by a scientist to shock a man, with each shock more powerful than the last, whenever he got a question wrong. Scientists predicted that only 1% of the volunteers would shock an individual to the highest amount of voltage, but surprisingly, approximately “65% of very typical people will give electric shocks to someone in another room if they are told to do so by an experimenter in a lab coat,” (Aron 13). One of the volunteers continued to shock the man, but finally stopped after at least 300 volts was reached. This experiment reflects how an individual can believe that their actions are justified, and how power affects the mindset and actions of individuals. However, once the volunteer’s guilty conscience reached its limit, the volunteer put a stop to shocking the other man and went against the authoritative figure’s directions. This experiment has aspects that support the theory of how people blindly obey an authority figure; individuals that practice baleful beliefs such as communism have become prominent figures due to the acquired blind support from others, even though the ideas that they assume have unappealing...
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...Zimbardo - Stanford Prison Experiment by Saul McLeod published 2008 Aim: To investigate how readily people would conform to the roles of guard and prisoner in a role-playing exercise that simulated prison life. Zimbardo (1973) was interested in finding out whether the brutality reported among guards in American prisons was due to the sadistic personalities of the guards or had more to do with the prison environment. Procedure: Zimbardo used a lab experiment to study conformity. To study the roles people play in prison situations, Zimbardo converted a basement of the Stanford University psychology building into a mock prison. He advertised for students to play the roles of prisoners and guards for a fortnight. 21 male college students (chosen from 75 volunteers) were screened for psychological normality and paid $15 per day to take part in the experiment. Participants were randomly assigned to either the role of prisoner or guard in a simulated prison environment. The prison simulation was kept as “real life” as possible. Prisoners were arrested at their own homes, without warning, and taken to the local police station. Guards were also issued a khaki uniform, together with whistles, handcuffs and dark glasses, to make eye contact with prisoners impossible. No physical violence was permitted. Zimbardo observed the behavior of the prisoners and guards. Here they were treated like every other criminal. They were fingerprinted, photographed and ‘booked’. Then they...
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...way to benefit society. In the 1971 documentary, “Quiet Rage”, psychologist Philip Zimbardo conducted a prison experiment at Stanford University aiming to gain knowledge in regards to the development of norms, roles, labels, and social expectations in a prison environment. Throughout this experiment Zimbardo lost control of the situation as the participants lost their own identities and became greatly involved with the roles that they were expected to act upon. As a result Zimbardo had to terminate the experiment before the study was completed due to unethical issues. The experiment was unethical, but it was a necessity in order to have acquired this beneficial knowledge that we possess today even though the trade off was inappropriate for the participants. Numerous reasons exist to why the experiment has violated the ethical standards. For example, the students who had played the role of prisoners were treated unethically by forcing them to clean the toilet with their bare hands, and were placed in total confinement of spaces that were only standing room for more than 24hrs. But why would the prisoners blindly follow the guards? According to Giddens, the size of a group affects the “quality of interaction and the capability of the group in accomplishing certain tasks” (Giddens 132). The more the prisoners the more likely they would conform to the guards even though the orders were harsh and unethical. One study that supports the theory of conformity was the experiment Asch...
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...factor in decision making, and most people are inclined to obey authority. “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely,” is a popular quote from Lord Acton. This statement has been proven true time and time again throughout history. A few good examples come from the Stanford Prison Experiment, where some of the students that played the role of guard abused the power they had been given for the experiment. During the testing two main guards took it upon themselves to become the authority of the prison even though they were not asked to do so. This shows that even a small amount of power can start to affect the way you act. They began taunting the prisoners, calling them demeaning names, and even forced them to do unnecessary exercises at times simply because they had the power to. Not only does power have the ability to corrupt, but it has the ability to do it quickly at times. These guys had no history of anything linking them to abuse or misconduct of any sort, but once they received power it quickly changed the way they acted. The process that Dr. Philip Zimbardo had planned was expected to last about 2 weeks, but it actually on lasted 4 days, and one key factor to the experiment being cut short was the guards abusing their power. It led to a lot of drama...
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...children. This again shows that when put in a stressful situation such as surviving, people will harm others to survive. While others may say that these children’s minds are too young to understand what they are doing is wrong, this is irrational. Any child with normal development has the natural sense that hurting other people is wrong and immoral, but it is the inherent evil in humans that overrides this sense of wrongdoing and causes one to care more about self-preservation. A final example can be found in the Stanford Prison Experiment (SPE). The purpose of the experiment was to see how guards and prisoners would react when they could only govern themselves, and as a result disorder broke out between guards and prisoners. A day before the experiment ended, many prisoners thought another prisoner was an informant and this resulted in them chanting,"Prisoner #819 is a bad prisoner”, and as a result Prisoner #819 became hysteric and distraught (Zimbardo). The experimental prison conditions created a stressful situation for the prisoners. This led the prisoners to distrust the guards and the other prisoners. When the other prisoners believed that Prisoner #819 was an informant to the guards, this caused the prisoners to harass and threaten him since they viewed him as a threat. This shows that when put in a stressful situation, people will care more about their survival more than another person's well-being, even without evidence. This is shown by the way the other prisoners treated...
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...From a criminological perspective discretion can be defined as the authority granted by law to agencies and officials to act on their own considered judgement and conscience in certain situations; and each area of the legal system (judges, parliament and law enforcement) has its own discretion. Police discretion is the ability granted by the legal system to police offices, in certain situations, to act in a manner that allows authorities to make responsible decisions and individual choices or judgments, within certain legal bounds. In law enforcement, discretion is left up to each individual officer to make reasonable and responsible decisions out in the field everyday (Beech, 2008). Discretion is used in many situations, such as when an officer chooses to stop a vehicle for a small traffic violation. There are also times when the officer has no choice but to use specific discretion in certain situations and make a decision on what type of force is necessary for certain situations (Elicker, 2007). Society believes that an officer can make any choice he or she chooses at anytime while on the job, which is highly incorrect as there are many situations when an officer has no choice but to follow the law. For the most part every officer has a choice when to use or not to use discretion, and enforce the law, but allowing this choice to be made by individuals, who may seem like an average member of society, can pose a real threat regarding the misuse of such power (Delattre, 2006). ...
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...Exam Questions for History and Ethical Principles - SBE View the text of this module | Download exam questions as an XLS file # Questions Questions on Exam Question Format Cluster 16 questions available 5 on exam Sequential Cluster Name: Question Cluster 1 Exam Text: None Question Order Question Stem, Answers, Feedback for Correct and Incorrect Answers Question Type Active? 1 (ID: 17285) Question Stem: Which of the following studies is linked most directly to the establishment of the National Research Act of 1974 and ultimately to the Belmont Report and updated federal regulations for protecting research subjects? Answers: The "Public Health Service study of untreated syphilis in the Negro male" (Correct) The Tearoom Trade study The Wichita jury study Obedience to authority study (Milgram study) Feedback for correct answer: Although the other studies are clear instances of human subjects abuse, it was the publicizing of the Public Health Service study that triggered congressional action. Feedback for incorrect answer: Although the other studies are clear instances of human subjects abuse, it was the publicizing of the Public Health Service study that triggered congressional action. Multiple Choice/Single Answer Inactive 2 (ID: 51762) Question Stem: According to the Belmont Report, implementing the principle of respect for persons involves Answers: Providing compensation that is commensurate with time requirements. Ensuring that subject...
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...study (Blass, 2007), Zimbardo’s “Prison Study” (Zimbardo, 2015) and Tuskegee study (Tuskegee University, 2015) showed the unethical research on human subjects. The studies were never reviewed by the Institutional Review Board (IRB, 2014) because it was not around at that time. Today, the consideration of ethics needs to be a critical part of the substructure of the research process. In my study an informed consent would be covered with the range of procedures that must be implemented throughout the research. I have been tossed on two studies; I am doing this assignment with one of them. The ages involved in the study of the effects on health with social media, are ages 10 to 18, therefor, need parental or legal guardian consent. I don’t expect to anticipate any harm done to the participants since the participants will go about their normal routine day and would be studied by monitoring how often they use any form of social media and the effects of any metal or physical health concerns related to it. All the information you provide will be strictly confidential, and the participants name will not appear on the questionnaire. Instead, their questionnaire will contain an identification number only known to the researchers involved in the study. To satisfy the requirements of the IRB, I would have to assure that the following requirements’ are met: 1. Risk to subjects are minimized 2. Risk to subjects is reasonable in relation to anticipated benefits. 3. Selection of subjects...
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...Research with human subjects has a long and often troubled history in the United States (U.S.) and throughout the world. Chances are you already have heard of some of the most egregious and well-known examples of unethical research in the biomedical sciences, such as the experiments conducted by Nazi doctors and scientists on concentration camp prisoners during World War II, and the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) study titled "Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male" (Tuskegee Study). These abuses led to the creation of codes of research ethics in Europe and the U.S. In the wake of the Second World War, the subsequent Nuremberg Trials on war crimes produced the Nuremberg Code, which outlined ten points for conducting ethical research with human subjects. Nearly two decades later, the World Medical Association (WMA) developed a code of research ethics known as the Declaration of Helsinki, published in 1964 and subsequently revised. This document is built on both the Nuremberg Code and the physician's code of ethics known as the Declaration of Geneva. In the U.S., news that researchers deceived and withheld treatment from subjects who suffered from syphilis in the Tuskegee Study led to the creation of the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research (National Commission or "the Commission"). The Commission was charged with establishing a code of research ethics for U.S. research involving human subjects. In 1979...
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...SOCIOLOGY 1A06 – DECEMBER EXAM REVIEW 1. The Sociological approach: a. is not scientific b. suggests that relations we have with other people create opportunities for us to think and act c. suggests that relations we have with other people set limits on our thoughts and actions d. leaves the study of personal issues to psychologists e. b and c * EXPLANATION: Although sociology contains both objective and subjective elements it is a science. Sociologists observe reality in a systematic and controlled manner and evaluate the validity of their ideas based on observations. Objectivity plays the role of a reality check while subjectivity makes us set our priorities for research. The sociological approach to improving human welfare is based on the idea that the relations we have with other people create opportunities for us to think and act but also set limits on our thoughts and actions. Accordingly, we can better understand that what we are and what we can become by studying the social relations that help shape us. FOR EXAMPLE: even the most personal issues can be studied using a sociological approach Suicide could have been seen as an anti-social act caused by psychological distress but Durkheim studied it from a sociological perspective correlating it to “social solidarity”, how frequently people interact with others and share their beliefs, values and morals. Social forces then determine the likelihood to commit suicide. Sociologists use...
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...Psychology 1A Term paper MICHAEL SADIK-SALIB Psychology 1A Term paper MICHAEL SADIK-SALIB 08 Fall 08 Fall Individuals have different behaviors depending on how they feel, think, want, or what they do because these things change from moment to moment. This paper will be writing about human personality and how this can be influence by other psychological subfield in social and clinical factors. I will explain how personality can be in a child-learning environment and influential adults in life and how these influences shape those behaviors. These changes show how the personality is and help to recognize, and understand the individual. “Personality is an abstraction used to explain consistency and coherency in an individuals’ pattern of affects, cognitions, desires and behaviors” (Revelle, n.d). According to Feist and Feist,”personality is a pattern of relatively permanent traits and unique characteristics that give both consistency and individuality to a person’s behavior. Sigmund Freud was one who developed his theory in the modern psychology. Psychoanalytic was his theory and consists on the human psyche. The id, the ego and the superego were the beginning basics. The scientists who continued with this investigation were Erich Fromm, Carl Jung, and Erik Erikson. Another theory is Phenomenological. It says that people are inclined toward goodness and fulfilling ones potential. Abraham Maslow was the scientist who reviewed this theory. Behaviorist, another...
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