Stanford Prison Experiment

Ethical issues are always first and foremost a subject of ambiguous grounds when it comes to experiments that are hinged on human behavior. Whether this is because of the short- and long-term consequences of psychological and physical harm, ethical questions are raised with regards to how much scientific benefit can be accrued from conducting such an experiment. This question remains heavily controversial especially in the Stanford Prison Experiment, conducted in 1971 at Stanford University. The idea in question was whether the social and physical behaviors in prison life was conducted because of the people in the environment or whether the situation in itself applies a general stress of how to react to such an environment.

"What happens when you put good people in an evil place?" (Zimbardo, 1999) and "Does humanity win over evil, or does evil triumph?" (Zimbardo, 1999) are only the starting points of this...
[ View Full Essay]