Brandt Schafer
Applied Ethics
Dr. Donahue
5 November 2013
The Stanford Prison Experiment
1. The guards of the Stanford Prison Experiment could not by any means inflict physical
harm, but they were completely free to psychologically and emotionally harm their
prisoners. They did so by boring, frightening, and frustrating the inmates, as well as
invade their privacy through complete surveillance. These would inflict emotions of
powerlessness. They would chain anyone who resisted, and each prisoner at the
beginning of the experiment would each receive their own handcuffing, blindfolding,
delousing, and stripping of their clothes. There was also a sense of public humiliation,
as the experiment had witnesses that knew absolutely nothing at all regarding the
research.
2. The demand of Christina Maslach to terminate the Stanford Prison Experiment
serves as a reminder that anyone not caught within an experiment or the traps it
generates can still rely on their moral resources. Like a puzzle, it is much easier to
unearth what is wrong with situation if one is not a part of it, and can observe it from a
distance.
3. The focal point of the experiment was the concept of control. The warden and guards
were free to inflict any form of torture upon the prisoners apart from physical abuse. Yet
if any prisoner dared to retaliate, they would receive cruel and unusual punishments,
usually being deprived of their own human needs.
4. The very concept of a warden and his prisoner contradicts the Golden Rule, as the
prisoners are unable to return their grievances. Furthermore, it is against their duty for
the guards to display sympathy or mercy onto their convicts. Much like caged animals
they possessed more rights than rocks, but less rights than humans, and should be
treated as such (even in the context of role-playing, disturbingly enough).
5. The Stanford Prison Experiment shows both its viewers and its participants that the
line between reality and fantasy often blurs far more easily than expected. It is a
gradual transition, rather than as simple and abrupt as a light switch. Confinement is a
psychological manipulation that is far more powerful than what people give it credit for
normally. Upon experiencing the tribal trap, any just hardworking man or woman can
exude words or actions that he or she had no idea that he or she could hold
responsibility for.