Topic > Psychological Analysis of Human Nature through the Stanford Prison Experiment

Many academic experiments have been performed to try to understand human nature. The way humans act and what they do is a very strange thing. Human nature actually refers to the behavior patterns typical of our species or gender. A human being undergoes changes as all human beings grow. The environment in which someone grows up influences that person's nature. To better understand human nature, I will talk about a certain experiment called “The Stanford Prison Experiment” conducted by psychology specialist Philip Zimbardo, which is a well-known social psychology experiment that investigates the psychological effects of power, focusing on the struggle between prisoners and guards prisons. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayZimbardo was interested in finding out whether the reported brutality among guards in American prisons was due to the prison environment or the cruel personalities of the prison guards. For example, on October 20, 2016 at Clinton Correctional Facility, “Strickland, who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, appears dazed and unresponsive, and then collapses. Even after he was contained, handcuffed and surrounded by officers, they made no effort to assess his medical situation… Strickland died after being shot in the head. State investigators issued a scathing report into the incident, but no officers were disciplined or charged.” Although this event occurs much later than the experiment was conducted, it shows a lack of urgency and concern for the prisoner's well-being. It's almost as if the guards want the prisoner to suffer. Some prisoners and guards may have different personalities which make conflict with prisoners inevitable. And some prisoners may not respect law and order, and guards may be power-hungry and aggressive. Hostility is invisible due to the rigid power structure of the social environment in prisons. Zimbardo predicted that position made them that way rather than their disposition. Zimbardo posted an ad asking for volunteers to participate in the study. Of the 75 candidates, 24 men were judged to be physically and mentally more stable and were chosen to participate. When the men were taken to the Stanford “prison” they were stripped naked and given clothing and bedding. They were assigned an identification number and were to be referred to only by that number. The use of the identification number was a way to make prisoners feel anonymous. In the first hours of the experiment some guards began to harass the prisoners. At 2:30 am the guards woke the prisoners with blaring whistles for the first of many “counts.” Push-ups were a common form of physical punishment meted out by guards. Guards even stomped on or even sat on prisoners' backs while forcing them to do push-ups. By the second day of the experiment, the prisoners had already rebelled by taking off their caps, tearing up their numbers and barricading themselves inside. the cells. Within the first 36 hours of starting the experiment, prisoner no. 8612 began to suffer from acute emotional distress, uncontrollable crying, and anger. The prisoner met the guards where he told them he was weak, #8612 returned to the other prisoners when the guards said: “You can't leave. You can't stop. Soon after #8612 started acting crazy, yelling and screaming. Only at this point did the psychologists realize that they had to get him out. The next day was a day of.