Question

Research Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment. Could this study have taken place today? Cite any ethical concerns using relevant terminology.

Answer 1

The study was undertaken with an aim to investigate how easily people would conform to the roles assigned to them, i.e. of a prisoner and guard in case role-playing is done by them. The hypothesis of the experiment was the dispositional hypothesis versus the situational one. The former would mean that due to the inherent nature of both prisoners and guards, hostile environment is seen in prisons. This is because prisoners in general are seen to be lacking respect of law and order whereas the guards in such prisons are generally seen as hostile, having aggressive tendencies while taking advantage of their social-structural power. However, for conducting this experiment, he converted a psychology lab of a well known university into a mock prison. In order to conduct this study in the present scenario, many ethical concerns could be raised despite following the guideline of informed consent. This is because the occupancy of space of a fully functioning university may be questioned. Moreover, the awareness regarding importance of mental and emotional well-being would restrict conduction of an experiment that is likely to tamper with the psychological well being of participants. While conducting such a long term role play, certain impact is likely to happen to participants no matter how many controlled settings are provided. This means that the psychological and emotional well being f participants would be put at stake for performing the investigation. Thus, it is considered less likely that a study of this nature would be appropriate for testing in the present day scenario.