Stanford Prison

The doctor in charge of the Stanford Prison Experiment was Philip G. Zimbardo.  Doctor Zimbardo’s experiment was to see if you put normal people in bad situation will they crumble to the pressure or react in a way to keep themselves sane.  From watching the documentary I believe the experiment was a success. It was a success because each person took on their roles and even added some twists that made it even better and more believable.

I believe there were many different examples of groupthink occurred in the documentary. One was Collective rationalization. This was shown because the prisoners felt like they were actually trapped and stuck there. This happened because when they kept asking to leave the guards kept saying that they couldn't. This then made the prisoners reconsider and they stopped asking.  Another example is belief in inherent morality. This occurred when after a while the prison guards thought what they were doing and how they were treating the prisoners was ok and the right thing to do. Next were self-appointed mind guards. This happened when one of the guards decided to become “John Wayne” the big tough guy and add a twist to the experiment.  He decided to then see how far he could push the prisoner’s limits before they freaked out.  He then became the lead guard and others followed what he did even though they didn’t agree with it or wanted to do it.

I believe the Stanford Prison Experiment to be a little too much. I feel this way because doctor Zimbardo wasn't fully in charge the whole time. For example the “John Wayne” guard decided to do what he wanted and to verbally abuse the prisoners and other kinds of abuse. To me the experiment just got out of hand towards the end and then became unethical.