Module 5 Case: Social Psychology Group Identity and Group Dynamics

The Stanford Prison Experiment
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Introduction
Social psychology experiments can be analyzed to show how behaviors, feelings, and thoughts are influenced by the presence of other individuals. Normally, social psychology studies examine how an individual’s behavior influences the behavior of a group or internal states like self-concept or attitude. First, the Stanley Milgram Experiment was designed to show the impact of obedience to authority. After the Second World War, scientists carried out investigations what influenced people to follow orders though knowing that such orders were atrocious. Mastroianni (2015) explains that the Stanley Milgram Experiment showed that the Nazis slaughtered the Jews because they were following orders from authority. The experiment justified that also non-Nazi populations would observe an authority’s orders to kill and harm others. It was not a German thinking as many people could believe. Secondly, the Stanford Prison Experiment was designed to show how the powerful role in a situation can influence human behavior (Fast, Halevy, and Galinsky, 2012). Thirdly, the Asch’s Conformity Experiment was designed to show the influence of conformity; the experiment studied how much others’ opinions can influence people’s behavior (Haslam and Reicher, 2012). In this paper, the Stanford Prison Experiment is studied to explain the dehumanization that took place in the Abu Ghraib Prison-episode, which was incident showing the influence of predefined roles. The result of Stanford Prison Experiment is the most appropriate showing similar actions to the exploitation and dehumanization discovered at Abu Ghraib.
Fast, Halevy and Galinsky (2012) view that when the images of the torture and abuse in Abu Ghraib were disclosed; the military soldiers immediately defended themselves claiming that it was acts of only a few bad officers. To start with, when people are seen doing bad things, it is typically assumed that they are bad people. However, the Stanford Prison Experiment shows that there are certain social psychological factors which can influence people to do things they ought to have never done (Crawford and Novak, 2013). The Stanford Prison Experiment was conducted in a mock prison environment at Stanford University. The experiment shows how ordinary people can commit inhuman acts when put in an evil place (environment/setting) without clear rules.
Synopsis
The study of the Stanford Prison Experiment was conducted to examine the process regarding how guards and prisoners learn to act and behave in their roles. First, Zimbardo put an advert in a local newspaper so that to employ male college students to participate in the psychological assessment about prison life. Zimbardo offered $15 per day for participation in the study for one or two weeks. Haslam and Reicher (2012) identify that there were at least 75 responses to the advert. Based on the personality tests and clinical interviews, 21 were selected to occupy the prison. They were randomly selected to serve as guards and prisoners. The prisoners were requested to remove their ordinary clothes, and they were given nylon stocking caps and smocks to wear. They were...