One thing that struck me as weird about this experiment is the fact that no one really decided to call quits early on. It was standard procedure at the time (and today) that you could leave any experiment at any point you felt uncomfortable being a part of, and of course you are provided the same compensation. That being said I have studied this experiment many times, and honestly part of me feels like it may have been somewhat exaggerated. ANY prisoner in jail would of course want to escape whenever they are given a chance, and I cannot really understand why anyone would just stick it out for the sake of the experiment. That being said it also isn’t beyond reason to think that Zimbardo and co. allowed these exaggerated claims to continue, it only added more power to the findings.
Max
In this experiment, I think what is the most fascinating isn’t how the guards were brutal or how the prisoners just took the punishment, it was how wrapped up Zimbardo became in his findings. Any moral and ethical human being could see the degradation that was going on, even his girlfriend who was a psychology student was absolutely appalled by what she saw. Even Milgram didn’t just sit and watch as people brutalized each other, but yet Zimbardo didn’t even care or notice, they were no longer humans in his eyes, just specimens in a microcosm of society that he was studying.
Max