The Zimbardo Prison Experiment

The Zimbardo prison experiment after watching the video indicates to me the nature of human behavior when given position of authority and power. Unequal power between groups of people can often lead to tyranny in the absence of a solid regulatory system that manages excesses that result from unequal relationships. This was the situation between the guards and the prisoners in this experiment, despite the fact that it was merely role playing, the prisoners became willing to take instructions from authority figures and were stressed up from routine sleep deprivation and constant yelling and physical punishment when the guards exaggerated their thirst for power. The experiment demonstrated situational attributions which may not necessary demonstrate the innate characteristics of the participants.  The individuals in this experiment, because of their association into the respective groups into which they were assigned, lost their individual sense of identity by becoming part of the prisoners group or guards group and behaving in a way that may be said to reflect the group identity.

Due to the human suffering that resulted from this experiment, it can be said that the ethics of this experiment were questionable on grounds that the participants were not adequately protected from unnecessary human suffering that became real during the experiment. Otherwise, specific guidelines were followed, including issues such as the purpose of the research, procedures that were to be followed, benefits of the research, the duration of the research, and other necessary criteria such as conditions of participation, which in this case were voluntary, with participants having the option to either participate or withdraw at some point in time. That notwithstanding as mentioned earlier, there was not enough oversight, to protect the participants from untold human suffering that became a reality of this experiment, and based on this alone, it can be said that this experiment lacked a solid ethical framework to accomplish the goals for which it was said and meet with basic tenets that protect human life.