In this paper there are five questions asked and answered about the Stanford Experiment conducted in 1971. The questions are about the ethics of the experiment.

Essay by swelchUniversity, Bachelor's February 2003

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Discuss the ethics of the Stanford Prison Experiment. In your answer, be sure to touch on the parts of the experiment that may be considered unethical, why the study was conducted the way it was and what was done to protect the subjects, and whether you feel that under the current ethical guidelines this study could be conducted today.

Ethics is thought of as a moral principle, or what should be right. The experiment that took place in the summer of 1971 at Stanford University was not ethnical, to any extent... The subjects were not protected to any extent, but the so-called guards had made the 'prisoners' obey them, which in return, the guards had no worries about being violated. They didn't need any type of protection, because what did they have to fear? Nothing, they were the ones who put the fear into the prisoners! The prisoners were frightened of the guards; they humiliated them...

They were stripped naked and searched. You know that had to affect the way the prisoners acted. I would obey them, because if I didn't I would be afraid they would humiliate me over and over. They faced the ultimate humiliation when they were arrested in the public's eye. They were stripped of there identity and only to be replaced by a number. The guards had total control over the prisoners from threatening and beating them. They had no choice but to obey. The prisoners knew they would be stripped of some of their privacy and civil rights. They didn't think it would lead as far as it did. The experiment was scheduled to last for two weeks, but it had to be cut short to six days. Why, you ask. It was unethical. As you see there was not one point in...