Question

Make sure you watch the video “Zimbaro’s Stanford Prison Experiment” embedded in the powerpoint presentation. For your discussion for this chapter, talk about that film with your group members. Did the behavior of the participants surprise you (both the guards and the prisoners)? Did the behavior of the experimenters surprise you? If you had been a prisoner or guard in this study, do you think you would have behaved differently? As you frame your response, describe the difference between attitudes leading to behaviors versus behaviors leading to attitudes, and tie it in with your ideas about the Stanford Prison Experiment. If responding to another group member, critique that group member's response, paying close attention to the "attitudes leading to behaviors versus behaviors leading to attitudes" arguments. Did they make a convincing argument that attitudes lead to behavior (or behavior leads to attitudes)?

http://online.fiu.edu/videos/?vpvid=cc0023be239c404d83ba637e4a433193

Answer 1

Stanford prison experiments is one of the most famous and realistic experiments among all. Philip Zimbardo from Stanford University conducted this experiment in a created prison environment in 1971.

The behavior of the participants surprised me because in the course of the experiment they all forgot that they were taking part in an experiment. The prison guards started torturing the inmates and the inmates started enduring great physical and psychological abuses, including sexual abuse when they were asked to do a romantic role play and stripped down.

In my opinion the behavior of the experimenter surprised me because even after the inmates suffered the psychological breakdown, the experimenter didn’t step in but allowed the experiment to continue. On the other hand the experimenter wanted it to happen in order to prove his hypothesis.

I don’t think I would have behaved in this way today because considering the time period of the study that was conducted in 1971. The amount of education and understanding today was missing during those days. I can’t think of unleashing inhuman behavior against a fellow human, even in an experiment.

One’s attitude determines their behavior and one’s behavior determines the other person’s attitude thus attitude to behavior and behavior to attitude are connected and interlinked. The role of the prison guards changed their attitude and the attitude of the guards changed their behavior. This didn’t stop here because the behavior of the prison guards further changed the attitude and behavior of the inmates. Some inmates refused to cooperate by locking themselves in.