Posted on Apr 27, 2015
The Stanford Prison Experiment, does it still apply?
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Nearly 45 years after the controversial Stanford Prison Experiment, many of the things learned are still applicable to today's military. I recently saw a TED talk by Philip Zimbardo, the professor who initiated the controversial experiment in 1971. The TED talk itself is over 8 years old, but it takes his experiences and studies from the intervening years as well as his time as an expert witness for Abu Ghraib defendants.
Would you concur with Dr. Zimbardo's assessment that it is the small victories of everyday heroes that prevent the willful use of power for evil?
http://www.ted.com/talks/philip_zimbardo_on_the_psychology_of_evil?language=en
Would you concur with Dr. Zimbardo's assessment that it is the small victories of everyday heroes that prevent the willful use of power for evil?
http://www.ted.com/talks/philip_zimbardo_on_the_psychology_of_evil?language=en
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 3
I think that the Stanford Prison Experiment will always stand. The experiment itself proved a piece of human nature that has been replicated in other studies and real life situations.
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CW2 Joseph Evans
Do you think that there is an institutional or policy procedure to counter the Stanford Experiment effects? Or do you think the experiment itself serves as adequate warning?
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CPT (Join to see)
One of the findings was that the situation changed the people and their own personalities had nothing to do with it. No procedure could change the outcome. I believe that the experiment, like the Milgram experiment, is a warning.
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LTC Yinon Weiss
Good reference. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment
Milgram experiment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Milgram experiment on obedience to authority figures was a series of social psychology experiments conducted by Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram. They measured the willingness of study participants to obey an authority figure who instructed them to perform acts conflicting with their personal conscience. Milgram first described his research in 1963 in an article published in the Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology[1] and...
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One of the first responses to this experiment is usually acknowledging the power of peer pressure and the then to denigrate those involved in the study as "sheep" who did not have enough will power to overcome their environment. This criticism is refuted by the study itself. The most important take-away from this experiment for military leaders should be the power of the command climate you create by your actions/inactions.
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Of course it does. Look at Parris Island and all thats going on there. I was stationed at Recruit Training Command San Diego during the early 90s and I seen some crazy stuff happening. People showed up there trying to enhance their careers and end up turning into psychopathic lunatics. Any rational person would sit back and say "what the hell were they thinking."
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