Crime can be described as an omission or action that constitutes an offense and is punishable by law set out by social institutions such as the justice system. There are several types of crimes inclusive of property crimes, violent crimes such as murder, or burglaries. In essence, crime and its precepts all fall under social issues affecting the community and society as a whole. A social issue, on the other hand, is an impediment that has an influence on a considerable portion of the population within a community or society. To this end, a social issue such as crime falls under certain domains, for instance, morals or societal order. The selection of the topic has been inspired by the Stanford prison experiment which provides a full spectrum on the social issue in relation to sociological factors modeled through qualitative analysis. As such, this paper seeks to provide a detailed discourse regarding the social issue with strict inference on the Stanford prison experiment thereby drawing fundamental upshots on the power of social situations in changing an individual’s behavior to even committing a crime.
The Stanford prison experiment was developed and set up in 1971 by a team of psychologists phenomenally adopting the prison setting. The subjects of the experiment constituted of college students who took up the roles of both the prisoners and prison guards. As described previously, the experiment was particularly aimed at testing the power of social situations in the determination of behavior. As some scholars have observed, this experiment has become a landmark demonstration of situational power in influencing not only the behavior but also values and attitudes of individuals within the society converting them to criminals in worst cases. Indeed, the Stanford prison experiment was historically effective in transforming the characters of most of the participating individuals to the point of the experiment being terminated in the sixth day rather than the two weeks as initially stipulated (American Psychological Association, 2004).
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Rationale
As discussed above, one of the main reasons for the experiment edifying crime was to analyze as well as demonstrate the substantial impact of institutional forces on the character or behavior of normal and healthy participants. The panel of researchers mandated with the experiment additionally sought to separate the normal dispositional aspects among correctional staff and prisoners from the situational factors that epitomize many prison settings. In essence, the researchers were focused on determining what prison-like settings brought out in individuals that are not confounded by what the individuals bring into prisons. Specifically, the experiment was bound to discover to what extent the anti-social behavior and violence most often than not found in prisons can be traced to individuals with bad behavior who get enrolled in prisons or to prisoners with bad behavior who could corrupt the character of even law-abiding individuals (American Psychological Association, 2004).
Methods
The study involved college students across the United States who had successfully answered a newspaper advert regarding participation in the study of prison life. The students were then called up and personally interviewed, subjected to a battery of personality tests, and finally completed surveys regarding their backgrounds. The procedures were particularly paramount in selecting only those students who were physically and mentally healthy, normal and adequately adjusted. The selected batch of students was then randomly assigned roles as either prisoners or guards in a simulated prison setting set up in the basement of the Stanford University’s Psychology Department.
Results and Findings
From the experiment, significant findings of the study can duly be summarized regardless of the study period being shortened to six days. Most of the normal and healthy students or ‘prisoners’ suffered extreme and strange emotional stress reactions to the extent of being withdrawn from the experiment within a matter of days. A good proportion of the remaining prisoners were observed to be acting in a zombie-like manner unconditionally obeying the demeaning orders and directives by the prison guards. The breaking point for most of the students or mock prisoners came when the guards began acting in a cruel, sadistic, and dehumanizing manner thereby inducing a sense of powerlessness and distress.
The psychological effects were not only felt by the prisoner students but also the guards who for some strange reasons began undertaking degrading actions thereby forcing the premature termination of the study. However, it is worth mentioning that regardless of the premature termination of the study, the purpose of the experiment was fully fulfilled within the short time frame. In essence, it was evident that most if not all of the students on both sides were changed in terms of behavior by the situation as well as other forces surrounding the setting.
Implications
The experiment has been implicated to be one of psychology’s most dramatic illustration of how normal and reasonable people can be changed into perpetrators of evil. In essence, most of the perpetrators or criminals who go to prison may not inherently be evil, but the forces and the environment within the prison as dictated by the guards changes the prisoners into worse versions of themselves. Such individuals are hard to control once they get out of prisons and most often than not end up in the same prisons after a subsequent perpetration of crime in the society. From the experiment, it can also be deduced that healthy and normal individuals can transform through experiencing pathological reactions that can be linked to situational forces not necessarily related to the prison. Given the correct circumstances, individuals can be forced to transform into negative versions of themselves adopting bad behavior that could lead to violence and crime.
Moral implications have also been a huge part of the experiment conjuring a heated debate whether the actions undertaken by the prison guards were ethical or unethical. Moreover, the research makes one question whether it was moral or ethical for the researchers to use young and juvenile college students instead of adults. However, from a qualitative point of view, it can be concluded that the experiment and the results were representative of the exact occurrence of events and impacts that would affect any individual regardless of his or her race or age.
Critique
The methodology of the experiment made use of college students as the main participants of the experiment given their age and innocence. Since their minds were young and untampered with, this ensured accurate results of the experiment in terms of reaction to the situations subjected to them. Other than the young age and innocence of the subjects, the seclusion and space of time for the experiment ensured the validity of results. Moreover, the experiment made use of rules and costumes parallel to those found in a real prison. This had a psychological effect on the students’ who were essentially prisoned in their minds by the second day and believed the only way out was through parole (American Psychological Association, 2016). This phenomenon by far ensured conformity as well as the validity of the results and findings of the experiment.
Nevertheless, as much as the experiment was fundamental in modeling the behavior of individuals under stressful situations, there is a negative side to it. The pitfall of the experiment is that the guards in the experiment went out of control to the extent of undertaking degrading and demeaning actions directed towards the prisoners. As a result, there was a fallout whereby some of the students broke down emotionally and had to be left out of the experiment. Ultimately, other than the extraction of broken down ‘prisoners’ the experiment had to be ended prematurely (within six days) to avoid further damage to the subjects emotionally and physically.
As the American Psychological Association (2016) suggests, every individual within a society is either a prisoner or a prison guard. To this end, it is difficult to change for instance Donald Trump supporters even after presenting them with factual information. This is particularly because, given Donald Trump authoritative and hot-headed nature, he can be categorized as a prison guard. As such, it is difficult to sway his supporters because they relate their behavior to his in the sense that only a prison guard can support his fellow prison guard and not vice versa. In essence, it is difficult for the supporters to change their minds more so because they see themselves through the actions of Donald Trump, and as such, supporting him is like giving themselves a pat on the back thereby building their ego and self-esteem.
Conclusion
Crime and social behavior are relatable in every society essentially because the latter determines perpetuation of criminal behavior or not. As such, given the right transformative and forceful circumstances, the behavior of an individual can be changed from good to bad or even worse as elaborated by the Stanford prison experiment. The experiment made use of juvenile and harmless college students with a proper background to ensure validity and accuracy of the results. While some survived adopting zombie-like behavior following every directive and order given by the guards, some broke down emotionally given the intense stress and pressure. However, matters escalated to the point of the guards performing degrading actions to the prisoners, and at this point, the experiment had to be terminated prematurely.
Nevertheless, fundamental upshots were realized from the experiment regardless of its short lifespan. It can be deduced that good individuals can be transformed into evil individuals’ anti-social behavior capable of committing crimes in the society. Also, it is not the individuals that are bad a hundred percent of the times, rather, sometimes it is the institutions that govern and monitor them that force the individuals into transformation. As such, it is crucial for individuals to devise ways of coping or guarding against the powerful and challenging situations as well as institutions through learning to recognize when authorities overstep their bounds thereby skillfully resisting.
References
American Psychological Association. (2004). Demonstrating the Power of Social Situations via a Simulated Prison Experiment. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/research/action/prison.aspx
American Psychological Association. (2016). “We Are All Prisoners or Guards”: Zimbardo and Dunn on the New Movie about the Stanford Prison Experiment. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/pubs/highlights/psyccritiques-spotlight/issue-08.aspx
