The Stanford
Prison Experiment Ethical Issues
The
Stanford prison experiment was performed in 1971, and since there has been talked
a lot about the many ethical during the experiment.
During the
Stanford Prison experiment both prisoners and guards were put under severe
stress. Participants were also psychologically harmed during the experiment the
participants were deceived, as the documents the participants were given did
not state fully what were going to happen to them, for example; it was not
listed anywhere that participants had signed up to get arrested in a realistic
simulation and later on blindfolded and stripped naked.
The
prisoners were beaten, they were verbally abused and psychologically broken
down. When one of the prisoners had a emotional breakdown and showed signs of
depression it took a while for the prisoner to be released, when he should’ve
been released immediately as he started showing signs of depression.
Later on, prisoner 416 expressed his concerns over
the treatment of the other prisoners. The guards responded with more abuse.
Prisoner 416 went on a hunger strike, and should’ve been released at this
point, but the only thing that happened was that he was put in a dark closet,
as other prisoners were encouraged to bang on the door and repeatedly shouting
at prisoner 416. Prisoner 416 should have been released as soon as he went on a
hunger strike. But instead he was punished even more.
If this
study were to be conducted today, Zimbardo would not be able to publish his
study due to breaking ethical rules/guide-lines set by the APA. The harm on
participants was not minimized and the good of the study did not outweigh the
harm. During this experiment long term consequences could occur and
autonomy implying respect for the individuals were not present during the
experiment. There was no respect for the participant’s rights. They were not
given an opportunity to accept all the risks in the experiments. This is some
of the ethical issues The Stanford Prison Experiment by Zimbardo, had.
