great works in literature II 2850 kta 2:55-4:35— Shades of Truth . . .

On Day 1 prisoner 1037 in his own voice said he didn’t care what he experienced because he just saw the experiment as a job. On Day 2 I realized the experiment guards started maintaining the prison with law and order, by having total power of the situation, the prisoners started rebelling against authority. Another aspect that I realized is that the prisoner’s felt inhumane by taking orders from the experiment guards. One of the experiment guards noted that as soon as you put on the uniform you become the person in the uniform, by committing acts against their conscience. The prisoner’s was rebelling against status due to the fact that they have to take orders from a fellow student and what’s so important about the uniform that they’re wearing ? With no doubts it’s a sense of power, the power over the prisoner’s.

Mohammed Baba

One aspect of the prison experiment that I think contributed to the extreme role-playing that occurred was the use of uniforms. The prison guards were given a special uniform that made them feel as if they truly had authority over the prisoners. What also contributed to this false persona was the fact that the “prisoners” had to wear chains on their legs and were given a set of numbers to refer to themselves as, further perpetuating these fake roles. I think these uniforms for each respective party significantly contributed to the events that took place. They no longer were just average people participating, they truly were prisoners and prison guards. In a way, this was absolutely genius. If the experimenters were just dressed in street clothes, I highly doubt the experimenters would have embraced their roles to the extent they did. The uniforms served as a sort of double-edged sword by enhancing the experiment, but revealing some of the darker side of humanity.

Another important aspect of the experiment for me was how the prisoners were under the impression that they would not be able to leave the experiment at any time. Although Zimbardo claimed that he never specifically told prisoner #8612 that he couldn’t leave, when he did ask to leave Zimbardo instead of letting him walk away made a deal with him that would turn him into a snitch which seemed to give him the impression that leaving wouldn’t be so simple. When #8612 returned and told the other prisoners that they couldn’t leave it definitely heightened the seriousness and reality of the situation. Perhaps they didn’t believe the disgruntled prisoner, but his actions definitely had an effect on the rest of the prisoners and the prison guards who’s authority was now given more validation. When #8612 asked to leave, Zimbardo should’ve let him leave immediately no questions asked, instead he pleaded for him to stay and potentially had a serious impact on the actions of those involved.

-Matthew Epstein

Ariana Lee

How does being blindfolded affect the prisoners?

The prisoners were caught off guard when they were first arrested. Afterwards, they were suddenly blindfolded and brought to an unknown place. These prisoners were unclear of where they were taken to, but they knew it was not a safe place. The moment they were blindfolded, they became more anxious because one of their main senses was taken away. Being blindfolded made them handicapped in various ways, such as giving into the prison guards’ demands to strip fully, move a certain way, and etc. They were forced to accept and do whatever was asked of them because they could not see and fully access the situation around them. Blindfolds stir up negative emotions of uneasiness, uncertainty, and anxiety.

How did the prison superintendent’s refusal to let any anyone leave affect the prisoners psychologically?

At this point of the experiment, the prisoners were already feeling stressed and humiliated. They wanted to leave because the prison guards became more rough and dangerous. Their only hope was seeking out the prison superintendent, who towards them seemed more understanding than the prison guards, to leave the experiment. However, he refused their request and this became a major turning point in the Stanford experiment. This forced prisoners to develop a plan of becoming excessively distressed (almost crazy) to be released, except these “fake” emotions unconsciously became reality. There was an excessive amount of cursing and helplessness that it seemed as if they needed to see a doctor immediately. This gradually escalated to the prisoners to accept and give in completely to the dominance of the prison guards; prisoners were breaking down and were losing their identity.

Johnson Liang

1. How do the uniforms of guard and prisoner reinforce the role they were meant to play in the experiment?

• The black sunglasses, khaki pants and night stick instilled a new identity into the participants. One of the former experiment guards, Dave Eshleman recalled putting together that the experiment was one that involved of the relationship between prisoner and guard. So he, as an arrogant 18 year old, used this new role given to him, to the fullest to further provide results. The uniform itself gave him power and emphasized his arrogant personality. He gave form to this new role by abusing his power, torturing the prisoners physically and mentally. These abuses reinforced their new identity as guards. The prisoners wore white robes and were forced into degrading acts like cleaning toilets with their bare hands. They rebelled against the guards, used profanity, and created an image of distortion within their minds that, they were indeed actual prisoners.

2. Besides the guards and prisoners, who else was a participant of the experiment?

• Philip Zimbardo was a participant of the experiment despite not realizing this. His identity was the superintendent. He had absolute power over both guards and prisoners. When one of the prisoners asked to leave, Zimbardo told him to reconsider. This was not a “no” in the eyes of Zimbardo. but to the prisoner, it was a refusal. This reinforced the identities of guard and prisoner because the superintendent turned a blind eye towards the brutality in the experiment. Zimbardo himself, displayed the abuse of power all for the sake of his personal gain, which were the results of the Stanford Prison Experiment.

Damilola Babarinde

1.      If you were a guard, how would you act in the experiment?  

–  If I was a guard, I would be a guard that wouldn’t tolerate nonsense, but while doing what I have to go to make sure everything is smooth-sailing, I’ll try not to infringe on the rights of the inmates. I’d try my best to be a good guard although it’s a difficult task since people in authority tend to be oblivious to when they are misusing their power.  After the experiment, I think the prisoners would’ve hated the guards so much because they treated them poorly even though they were innocent. The guards would’ve probably felt bad and stupid for their actions because after they’ve taken off their guard uniform, their authoritative power left as well and they realize that they were all equal and innocent.

2.      How can you explain the actions of the “good guards”?

– The “good guards” were probably intimidated by their peers since the “good guards” were less authoritative than the “bad guards.” In addition, the good guards might have feared the retaliation from the bad guards. I think an important factor in why the prisoners attributed guard brutality to the guards’ character instead of the situation was because the subjects knew it was an experiment and in that experiments we see that there are two types of guards. The prisoners haven’t committed any crime; yet guards were treating them poorly.   

Alisha Alex

1. One aspect of the video that I found interesting was that the prisoners were brought into the basement, blindfolded. The prisoners were forced to strip themselves of their clothing, which in a sense dehumanizes them. It lowers their freedom, their individuality, and their rights as a person. To be completely stripped and have others to invade your privacy making fun of your body parts, is cruel and disgusting. This definitely proved the guards authority and power to demean the prisoners.
2. Another aspect of the video that I found interesting was how quickly prisoner 819 got affected by the other prisoners. Just as soon as he was going to be freed from the prison the other prisoners kept saying, “prisoner 819 did a bad thing.” As soon as he heard that, he went through a mental breakdown and did not want to leave the prison. He cried and cried to figure out a way to stay in prison with his friends just because of that comment.

In this experiment, able-bodied and psychologically sound men were carefully chosen to participate. They were then split off into their roles. The men who were given the role of the guards took to their job seriously and instantly felt all the power and authority consume them. Seemingly normal and healthy man were displaying sadistic behaviors by torturing the inmates in inhumane ways such as forcing them to use a bucket as a bathroom or taking away any comfort like their mattresses. The guards dehumanized their victims by regarding them as their prison number instead of their actual names.
The second half of the volunteers were made to be prisoners. This was further emphasized by the fact that they were “arrested” and brought to the location of the experiment. At the beginning, the prisoners showed rebellion by not following the orders of the guards. It didn’t help that the guards, being inexperienced gave out slightly awkward auras in the beginning. Soon enough when the torture started many of the prisoners started to become complacent with the acts in order not to get punished severely. These health men were being degraded and felt hopeless to their attacks.

-Sumaiyah Ali

The first thing I truly found interesting was how quickly the experiment went from zero to one hundred. Even Dr Phillips Zimbardo said in the beginning of the video that he was not expecting to get any results or at least was hoping to get boring results. He felt that no prisoners were gonna comply with the guards and the guards would not be so inhumane that they would subdue the prisoners with violence. He was quite wrong. What was a model of an experiment of a prison turned into a real prison real quick. The guards were supposed to be making small pokes at the prisoners but the scientist never predict they would strip down the prisoners and poke “fun at their genitals” and wake them up at the middle of the night to “clean toilets with bare hands”. The kids who portrayed cops went from not knowing anything about abusive legal authorities to almost mastering them overnight. Even the scientist himself turned into a part of the experiment and claimed he forgot his position as a scientist and become more involved in subduing the prisoners than  conducting the experiment itself.

The Second aspect I found to be extremely interesting is that the science talks about how malleable the mid of a young person is. Anything can change their minds. Prisoner 819 was a prison in the experiment and he wanted to leave the jail. The instructor had allowed that. He has let him go and have his way of becoming free from the prison. But When he heard his friends in the prison saying that “819 did a bad thing” while he was about to be freed. He instantly changed his position and cried to be back in the jail. He felt bad for leaving his friends but he also wanted to leave. He was conflicted and unsure and very mailable and i feel like that’s how a lot of young people are. Therefore this makes the aspect of mailability very interesting in the experiment.

ARRAF AHMED

1. One aspect of the video that I found interesting was the actual mental breakdowns that some of the prisoners experienced. I thought that this was interesting because it was astonishing to see that the prisoners were so drastically affected that they began to “lose” their mind. I thought that the real-life reactions by those in the prisoner position was fascinating within the realm of the experiment because it came to a point where it felt as if it was no longer an experiment, especially for the prisoners. Thus, they began to break down because of the conditions they were put under by the guards.
2. Another aspect of the video that I found interesting was the the non-humane actions conducted by the guards. For example, there was a clip in the video where they mentioned that guards would trap prisoners in the room where they could not even sit down, which seems even worse than some prison conditions. Also, the use of the fire extinguishers to force the prisoners out of their cells was another display of the aggressiveness by the guards. It is evident that the guards, in this situation, had power at their hands, and made decisions as to how to conduct themselves with this new power.

One thing that I found interesting about the experiment was how on the second day the prisoners started a rebellion against the guards. I thought it was interesting because of how sudden it was and how it resulted in the guards treating the prisoners a lot worse than they did at first and it lead to worse conditions for the prisoners. It raises the question; perhaps the guards would not have treated the prisoners so badly had they not rebelled in the beginning and simply played along.

I thought it was interesting how the researcher said that he stopped feeling like a researcher during the experiment and instead started feeling like he really was a warden at a prison.  This is shown through how after one of the prisoners was released and a rumor started that the prisoner would come back with friends to free everyone and the researcher thought only about how he could keep the prison going rather than the experiment showing that he forgot that he was a researcher and instead embraced the given role that he had as a warden. I thought this was a terrifying concept to think about as it shows even the person conducting the experiment forgot what he really was and instead embraced the role he was given.

Gary Bryanskiy

One part of the experiment that I found interesting is the way that the “prisoners” were stripped of their individuality and forced to conform to this new persona. The first way this was done was by making the participants wear ill-fitting, uncomfortable uniforms which removed the outermost layer that made them different. Then, there are the chains that the prisoners had to wear around one of their legs, these chains served no purpose besides making the participants feel even less powerful. Finally, the prisoners lost their names and were referred to only by their numbers, all of this served to make the prisoners feel less like themselves and place them into the prison mentality making them less likely to assert themselves. Also, by removing the prisoners’ individuality the guards were able to use more force on them because they did not see them as people.

Another part of the experiment that I found interesting is Zimbardo’s role. Usually researchers take on a more observational role where they just collect data and make notes on what is happening. However, for this experiment Zimbardo chose to make himself a participant and actually be in charge of everybody else. I think that this is extremely odd given the nature of the experiment because it may have clouded Zimbardo’s judgement and prevented him from actually observing how the experiment was playing out. I actually found Zimbardo as he was speaking in the video to be a bit hypocritical because it seems like he is blaming the participants for getting too involve in their role at the same time he is downplaying that he did the same thing.

1. A specific aspect from this experiment is the attire that the guards are given to wear. The guards were given a plain khaki uniform and items such as a big-billy club, handcuffs, a whistle, and mirror sunglasses to complete the look of power. Being in possession of these authority wielding objects can change the demeanor of a person. The mirrored sunglasses was one of the objects that aided in changing the demeanor of the guards because it acted as a mask. Once a mask is put on, they were able to mask their identity and behave in ways that they would not normally behave if they were not wearing a mask. Fully becoming the player of the guard was only the beginning to the authoritative acts they would perform.
2. A specific aspect of this experiment was when one of the guards brought his girlfriend to the location of the experiment. An outsider was able to witness the happenings of the cruel, dehumanizing, and demeaning treatment of the prisoners. Even though she was also a psychologist, she was able to realize that the guards actions were not justified and that they were taking the experiment too far. It was not until she told her boyfriend about this that that guard was able to realize what he had done, what he was doing, and that he had to stop. He was not acting like his “normal” self, he had turned into someone that was unrecognizable.