Abstract
After viewing the video on the Stanford Prison Experiment, I recorded my feelings and reactions to the video based on questions that I was presented with by my Professor. These questions provoked thought and led me to a new understanding about the material that I viewed.
I would like to think that if I had been a guard in this experiment that I would have been a “good” guard. I think that I am a good person who would treat others with kindness and respect in all situations, but this experiment shows that when placed in a place of power, people’s personalities and morals can quickly change.
The “good” guards did not object or countermand the orders from the tough or bad guards because they felt that anything they did would not matter. Seeing the way that the “bad” guards treated the prisoners, I believe that the good guards were afraid that if they objected or countermanded the bad guards that they would get treated the same way the prisoners were being treated.
I think that I would have been able to endure the experiment if I was a prisoner. I would not have participated in any sort of rebellion like some of the other prisoners did and I would have continually told myself that it was just an experiment. I would have tried to be a good prisoner and would have listened to whatever commands the guards gave me.
I was shocked by the results of this experiment. I was surprised that so many of the guards became so ruthless towards their fellow men and that some of the prisoners had such strong, negative reactions to the experiment. I did not think that they would have breakdowns as quickly or as severely as they did. I was also surprised to hear that many of the tactics that the guards used were tactics that had been used by Nazis and other prisons. I think that shows that these types of torture and cruelty are not used by psychopathic people alone, but can be thought up by normal people as well.
Zimbardi learned many things from this experiment. He learned that prisons can dehumanize people, strip them of their identity and cause significant emotional damage. He also learned that normal, everyday people can turn cruel if placed in the right situation. I think that this experiment also shows how if a person is told something over and over again that they can start to really believe it. This is shown by how the prisoners started to actually believe that they were in a prison. It is also shown by how the prisoners came to actually believe that those prisoners who were labeled “bad” were really bad, just because it was repeated so many times. I think this experiment shows how easily people can be broken down and hurt, and how easy it is for people to gain complete control of those they have power over.
