Ethical Considerations

The Stanford Prison Experiment conducted in 1971 by Dr. Philip Zimbardo

would not be able to be conducted these days. When conducting an

experiment with humans there are many ethical guidelines that are to be followed. The

rights and well being of the participants must be weighed against the study’s value to

science. The people always come first, and research second. This was not the case in

Dr. Philip Zimbardo’s experiment.

I found that there were many ethical considerations that were violated in Dr.

Philip Zimbardo’s research. One being that the investigator must debrief the participants

telling them the true nature of the study and expectations of the results. This is really

important in studies that involve deception. Dr. Philip Zimbardo’s experiment was full of

deception. The participants did answer to an ad in the local newspaper that stated

they were looking for volunteers to participate in a study of the psychological effects of

prison life. I don’t think they were told in full context what to expect of the

experiment. I don’t think Dr. Philip Zimbardo even knew what he was getting himself

into by Conducting this experiment.

Dr. Philip Zimbardo randomly assigned the participants into two groups by the

flip of a coin. Half of them were guards and the others were the prisoners. The guards

weren’t given any specific training. They were pretty much free to do whatever necessary

to keep order in the prison, and to command the respect of the prisoners. The prisoners

had to wear dresses as their uniform and wore a chain around their foot. The aim of the

clothes were to humiliate the prisoners and to deprive them of their individuality. The

shackle on the foot was to remind them of where they were even in their sleep. Some

punishments that the prisoners endured were solitary confinement, the withdraw of

favorite foods, and rationing of cigarettes. Not to mention the physical abuse from the

guards. These were enough to create responses in the volunteers. The participants were

not protected from risks or told explicitly of risks. This was another ethical consideration

that was violated.

During the short period of the experiment, Dr. Zimbardo tried to arouse in his

Prisoners, powerlessness, hopelessness, and dependence. The same feelings that real

prisoners experience, after a long period of time. It wasn’t until much later that Dr. Philip

Zimbardo realized how far into the prison role he was. He was thinking like a prison

Superintendent