4 May 2022

383

Documentary on the Stanford Experiment

Format: APA

Academic level: College

Paper type: Essay (Any Type)

Words: 545

Pages: 2

Downloads: 0

Speculating upon the BBC documentary of Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment, one cannot but encounter the fact that the film enables the audience to reinterpret the attitude towards a truly infamous psychology study. Significantly, 29-minute BBC video documentary should predominantly be referred to as a scientific excursus into how social roles are likely to affect people’s behaviour. Throughout the short film based on re-telling Zimbardo’s dramatic simulation of prison life, one cannot but give the documentary credit for providing an in-depth reflection upon the views that both anatomical experts and human biologists have about this experiment. As the BBC video unfurls, one cannot help but become aware that it aims to show the other side of the ill-famed Stanford Prison Experiment (SPE). In particular, the documentary positions itself as part of anti-human research campaign, with a special emphasis on all the irrelevance of involving humans as subjects for psychological experiments. Being exposed to expert witness opinions and camera shots as a tool for understanding the human body should be viewed as a chance to peer deep into the core of prison experiment. More importantly, however, the BBC documentary may serve as a wake-up call to raise concerns over the increase in unethical human experimentation. 

Sinking into the BBC documentary, a recruitment of 24 volunteers who would later perform the functions of either the guards or the inmates of the simulated prison does pose many ethical contradictions. An insightful view on the contentious study that the given short film offers is likely to evoke multiple responses in the public. I am thus firmly minded to claim that the role that the picture plays in documenting a peculiar aspect of the ongoing reality should not be underestimated. To be precise, the BBC short video makes it certain that psychology studies generate serious controversy, and, therefore, need to be thoroughly addressed in order to accurately grasp their detrimental role often misunderstood today. In regard to the documentary titled “Psychology: The Stanford Prison Experiment”, Phillip Zimbardo is described here as strongly associated with dubious contribution to the field of psychology. Surely, the experiment reveals the social and psychological outcomes of being attributed an unequal status in relation to one another. Notwithstanding this, the stories of those who volunteered to participate in the prison experiment come to directly allude to a dire need for re-envisioning life-effecting consequences that Zimbardo’s research method may entail. It can be said with an absolute certainty that the experiment in which the two groups of students were in opposition to each other quickly spiralled out of control. To be exact, the experiment was discontinued after less than a week even though it was planned to last for 14 days. Apparently, the documentary endows the audience with an opportunity to vividly see all the cons of poorly-designed experiments; it is not an exaggeration to say that psychology studies come with a huge level of risk, and side effects related to Zimardo’s experiment cannot be understated. 

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Overall, the BBC documentary is definitely worth watching due to a number of reasons. Of all the reasons why the video deserves to be seen, I would like to make mention of its potential to change the way people conceive of everyday’s reality. In other words, the film gravitates towards concerns over the public’s reluctance to adequately respond to many disputable studies in human psychology; and this in turn intends for us to consider frequently used research methods as morally unacceptable. It is my belief that the thoughts and feelings that I came across as a result of watching the documentary greatly contributed to developing my critical thinking ability. 

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StudyBounty. (2023, September 15). Documentary on the Stanford Experiment.
https://studybounty.com/documentary-on-the-stanford-experiment-essay

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