Effect on Current Research
[Digital Image]. (n.d.). Retrieved February 2, 2017, from http://www.crimemuseum.org/crime-library/stanford-prison-experiment/
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How do the study's ethical problems affect researchers now?
Experiments like the SPE are no longer done, in part because researchers have decided that they involved such high levels of stress -- four of the Stanford prisoners suffered emotional breakdowns -- that the experiments are unethical (Schwartz, 2004). In defense of Zimbardo, he did not foresee the psychological damage that would unfold (McLeod, 2008). Fraenkel, Wallen, and Hyun states, "What researchers consider to be ethical is largely a matter of agreement among them" (Fraenkel, Wallen, Hyun, 2015). The abusive treatment of the participants in the Stanford Prison Experiment led to the establishment of a list of ethical guidelines by the Committee on Scientific and Professional Ethics of the American Psychological Association. Researchers now must carefully plan out and research any study they wish to conduct (McLeod, 2008). They also must explore every outcome possible.Had these new guidelines been established before the Stanford Prison Experiment, perhaps the negative outcomes could have been avoided.
What were the results of exposing the study's ethical problems?
As a result of the study's unethical behaviors and concerns over validity, all research conducted, recorded, and analyzed could not be used by the Office of Naval research to make prisons more humane. Instead, the United States Navy used the results to train people how to deal with the ramifications of captivity, which some say was their hidden objective from the outset. (McLeod, 2008).
Another result of the study's problems was the psychological damage done to the participants. These abusive behaviors were not discussed prior to the experiment. One participant was removed from the study for screaming and crying due to the severity of the abuse. Participants had to have psychological screenings in the days, weeks, and months after the experiment. Even though the study states that no lasting affects were present in any participants, it definitely impacted the "prisoners" at the time (McLeod, 2008).
Another result of the study's problems was the psychological damage done to the participants. These abusive behaviors were not discussed prior to the experiment. One participant was removed from the study for screaming and crying due to the severity of the abuse. Participants had to have psychological screenings in the days, weeks, and months after the experiment. Even though the study states that no lasting affects were present in any participants, it definitely impacted the "prisoners" at the time (McLeod, 2008).
Could the study be revised to be conducted ethically?
The entire aim of the experiment was unethical. The aim was to get a human to conform to a person of power. There is no way to avoid psychological issues. Ackley stated in Perspectives of Contemporary Issues, "The Stanford Prison Experiment is but one of a host of studies in psychology that reveal the extent to which our behavior can be transformed from its usual self point to deviate in unimaginable ways, even to readily accepting a dehumanized conception of others, as "animals," and to accepting sperrious rationales for why pain will be good for them" (Ackley, 2016). The study can not be revised to be conducted ethically.