Stanford Prison Experiment Research

Despite the fact that the experiment was scheduled to be conducted for two weeks, it was abruptly terminated after six days due to many cases of mental breakdowns, hunger strike and also an outbreak of sadism (Leithead, 2011). The Abu Ghraib Prison torture and abuse of prisoners, on the other hand, was one of the world's most infamous detainment facilities comprising of week after week executions, torment, and abominable living conditions. In excess of fifty thousand people were put into Abu Ghraib at once in small cells that were essentially under poor conditions (Hersh, 2004). In this essay, I will evaluate how the abuses at the Stanford Prison Experiment and the Abu Ghraib torture are similar or different and the manner in which prison environments have been proved to impact human behavior in the society.

Comparison of the abuse at the Stanford Prison Experiment and the Abu Ghraib torture. Similar to the abuses and prisoner’s torture in the Stanford Prison experiment, such abuses are also demonstrated in the Abu Ghraib torture. Images were revealed in 2004 of officers mistreating detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison. Similar to what guards at the Stanford Prison Experiment did to the prisoners, soldiers at the Abu Ghraib prison abused prisoners, staged very humiliating sexual positions, stripped the prisoners naked, forced stripped male prisoners to wear lady's clothing, driving male prisoners into masturbation while taking photos and recording videos and also chaining the detainees. Thus, the mistreatment in the Abu Ghraib prison demonstrated very comparable deeds that are similar to the actions in the Stanford Prison Experiment.

Phillip Zimbardo in the year 1973, once stated in the article, "The Record” that “The terrible things my guards [at Stanford] did to their prisoners were comparable to the horrors inflicted on the Iraqi detainees. Additionally, evidence of both cases supports different conclusions related to human nature as well as the psychology of evil. The Stanford Prison Experiment and the Abu Ghraib prison abuses illustrate the intensity of a harsh circumstance to instigate great individuals to do evil things. This leads to the conclusion that solid situational powers can supersede singular identity contrasts and good qualities so that moral values count for very little in the actions of people. Basically, it shows that when people are put in situations where they have power over others, just like the guards and soldiers in both prison cases, they can turn to act in a tyrannical and abusive way.

Thus it leads to the conclusion that situational power generally triumphs over individual power in different situations. According to other inmates in the Milwaukee Country Jail Cell, Thomas had been begging the officers for water for over a week in vain which led to his death due to dehydration. These and many other cases of abuse are things that happen in prisons on daily basis due to the power given to prison soldiers and staff (Ptacin, 2017). Conclusion In conclusion, based on the actions demonstrated in both the Stanford Prison Experiment and the Abu Ghraib prison torture and abuse, it’s evidently clear that prison environments have an impact on human behavior. When innocent people are placed under such a prison environment, it’s most likely that they will turn to do evil things.