Social Psychology and Cultural Applications

Stanford Prison Experiment

Directions: Answer each of the questions below with a minimum of 200-words. Use scholarly research to support your answers. Include APA in-text citations in your answers where necessary and list your reference at the end of the document.

1. Do you think that kids from an urban working-class environment would have broken down emotionally in the same way as did the middle-class prisoners? Why?

What do you suppose the outcome would have been if women were used a prisoners and guards instead of men? Explain.

2. While the Stanford Prison experiment is considered unethical, what usefulness has come from the experimental outcomes?

Was it right to trade the suffering experienced by participants for the knowledge gained by the research? Explain how the experiment and consequently the suffering has added to current research in the field of social psychology.

3. Knowing what this research says about the power of prison situations to have a corrosive effect on human nature, what recommendations would you make about changing the correctional system in your country?