Stanford Prison Experiment

The Stanford Prison Experiment: Application to Everyday Life

This study applies to everyday life, because we need to know and understand that the way people act and the things people do are not because of their disposition, but because of their situation. The guards were aggressive and sadistic, because they had a job to do when they took on their roles. The prisoners were rebellious and then passive, because the guards mistreated them, and also because the situation was difficult.

This study clearly applies to the everyday lives of those associated with prison, since that is what the experiment was done for in the first place. The purpose of the study was to determine whether the state of prisons are due to the dispositional or situational attributions of the people and conditions. Since they learned that it was the situation, we can now correctly work to improve the prisons.

In addition, the experiment applies to normal people, as well. One might argue that the study is inapplicable to everyday life, since obviously not everyone is in prison. However, everyone in society has their own responsibilities, whether it's the superior or inferior role in whatever situation in which we find ourselves.

The guards did what they felt was necessary to maintain a level of order within the prison so that it could function effectively. They had no limits as to what they could do (other than the rule of no physical punishment), which is very similar to the real world.

The prisoners rebelled, because they believed that the situation was wrong and unfair. This applies to everyday life, because we all go through things we believe are wrong, and deal with people who mistreat us (i.e. parents, teachers, employers). And so, in a way, we are all prisoners, and it's important for us to understand that our authority figures behave in a certain way not because they're bad people, but because of their role in the situation.

Bibliography

Haney, C., Banks, C. and...