Week 2 Stanford Prison Experiment

After watching the videos and reading about the Stanford Prison Experiment it seems to me that the experiment was unethical to conduct. I do not believe the researchers had poor intentions, however the acts of abuse and degradation that occurred were clearly problematic and should have prompted immediate termination of the experiment. Although the participants gave consent to be a part of the study, one could argue that it was not entirely informed consent. Did the "prisoners" know that psychological abuse, and physical intimidation would be tolerated and encouraged? Neither the "guards" or the "prisoners" could have known what the situation would drive them to do, and similarly, neither could the researchers. However, the researchers did know what they hypothesized might happen; that abuse might or might not occur as a result of the participants assuming the roles they were given. Therefore, because they knew that abuse (physical or mental) could occur, I believe the study was unethical.

It is interesting that from what I understand, there was no on site psychiatrist to help the prisoners cope with their emotional breaks. Sometimes they were so far in to the experiment that they could not differentiate between reality and make-believe. They were convinced that they were still prisoners even when they were told they could go home and leave the experiment. It is strange that there was no one on call or nearby monitoring the experiment making sure that no one was being seriously affected.

Week One Blog Entry: Introductions

Hello!

My name is Amy and I am a second degree nursing student. I have a Bachelor of Science with a double major in Biology and Spanish and I just graduated in May. Now I am pursuing a BS in Nursing and I am about to start classes this week! I am taking sociology because it is a very important social science to learn, especially when entering professions that involve a lot of human contact, such as health care. I am hoping to gain from this course a better understanding of social groups and the ways in which societies exist as well as how societal norms, rules, and regulations are created and maintained. I am excited to be beginning the course and this blog! For a fun fact, my favorite TV show right now is Mad Men.