What happens when you decide to lock good people in an evil place? Does the good in humanity overcome evil or does evil triumph? These are a couple of questions that psychologists asked themselves while Stanford University conducted their dramatic experiment in 1971. The experiment deteriorated very quickly and showed the true dark and inhuman side of human nature. “Philip Zimbardo's experiment on prison life immediately showed how a person can simply let go of their identity to fit into the social roles expected of them (Haney, Banks, & Zimbardo, 1973).” The end result of this experiment is still influential in psychology today. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay As people, we tend to take on many roles in our daily lives, suggesting different responsibilities that we may or may not be aware of. We work hard to balance all our life responsibilities, which could derail someone's life. However, we can choose whether we want to use our roles for good or not. We have the ability to overcome and free ourselves from the chains of negative roles that hold us back. The Stanford Prison Experiment gave us a great sense of how far human nature will go to fulfill the roles we are assigned. “People will willingly adapt to the social roles they are expected to fill, especially if the roles are highly stereotyped like those of prison guards (Mcleod, 2017).” Each role is distinctive and becomes one with our identity. Although the experiment as a whole aimed to study the psychological effects of inmates and prison guards, it revealed the true extent of how easily behaviors can be changed through participatory roles. However, there are multiple reasons why this experiment was ethically unsuccessful, yet very informative about both human behavior and role-playing. There were many reasons why the participants in the experiment were strongly influenced in their assigned roles. One of the main reasons that may have influenced their behaviors was the fact that there was a hierarchy of power. While this hierarchy was never real, both guards and prisoners incorporated this behavior into their identities. The actions, behaviors and attitudes of everyone involved changed dramatically in the six days the experiment was active. The male participants started out psychologically and physically healthy, as tested before the experiment by Zimbardo (Zimbardo et al, 1973). They soon transformed into sadistic and aggressive guards or anxious and compliant prisoners (Zimbardo et al, 1973). It took the experiment's premature end to remind everyone of their identity and that this was supposed to be a scientific study. This experiment, while intended to study only a small microcosm of human behavior, uncovered truths that could explain our behaviors in a much broader sense. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Customize EssayIn some sense, everyone will be a prisoner or guard at some point in their life, because a guard is simply someone who limits another person's freedom. Parents, spouses, and bosses do this all the time. And the recipients of this behavior? Well, they are the prisoners. (Slavic, 2009). While this statement may seem a bit pessimistic, there may be some truth to it when it comes to commitment to?