Was the Stanford Prison Experiment ethical? Why or why not?
I feel that while the experiment walked a fine line of being unethical, it's overall study was not. The two groups of people involved were aware going into it, unlike those that were studied in the Tearoom Trade. The experiment only lasted two weeks long, so it's not like it was an enormous amount of time that these "prisoners" were being mistreated for. The YouTube bit, said that none of the prisoners ever said that they wanted out of the study. That to me shows that they were ok and understanding of what was going on. Those that were being affected mentally, were taken out of the experiment for their protection. The experiment was no doubt risky, but I think participants weren't hurt in such a way that they needed to escape. It really shed light on the fact that when some individuals assume a role above another, they tend to treat them negatively. To kind of branch off of this experiment, I would use historical research on this subject to look at how masters treated their slaves. I am learning about that currently in my History class and I think there is definitely some comparisons to look at.
Hello Jenna, yes I believe that the volunteers weren't hurt by the experiment because they were aware of that it was an experiment and they were getting paid. They were not mistreated for a long time which caused them to not be affected mentally.
ReplyDelete