Zimbardo’s experiment expected to last for two weeks only lasted for only six days as the participants showed signs of psychological problems such as sadness, mental breakdown, and hunger strikes. Zimbardo used cots in the rooms as props to create an atmosphere of a cell in which the prisoners slept. He also used wardens’ uniform to create his mock wardens to watch over the prisoners who were also dressed in their prisoners’ uniform. One cannot tell the difference between Zimbardo’s mock prisoners and wardens from the real ones.

The setting used by Zimbardo resembled an actual prison with small rooms containing only the sleeping cots with bars. There was also a small room serving as a solitary confinement and another to serve as a prison yard creating a scene like that of a real prison where prisoners have no authority. The behavior of the participants as recorded by the hidden cameras brought out the demeanor of the wardens and prisoner through their facial appearance and emotional stress. The wardens became cruel while the prisoners showed signs of agony, stress, and depression bringing out the nature of many prisons. The elements show that prison warders have power and authority over the prisoners who have to do anything the warden’s command. The uniform for the prisoners is different from that of the wardens showing that the latter are more powerful. The four elements are still in use today to show that some people are more powerful than others are. For instance, police have their uniforms, presidents live in state houses, and many leaders behave in certain manners such as being proud and authoritative. Some leaders in authority abuse their positions by torturing the ones under their rule.

The experiment was not ethical as it involved a lot of torture on the prisoners and use of inhuman practices by the wardens. The fact that the prisoners could not tolerate the torture and most of them were stressed before the period of the experiment indicates the extent of the sufferings they went through. An experiment should not read to the violation of human rights as the Zimbardo’s experiment did. The wardens stripped the prisoners naked and exposed to stressing and depressing conditions. Trading the suffering of the participants was wrong instead the researcher should have put his cameras in a real prison without revealing its identity and collected the data he needed for his research. The experiment violated the rights of the participants by exposing them to the inhuman behavior of the wardens.

The conflict theory attributes punishment to mechanisms used by dominant social classes to have control and regulation of individuals who are the minority groups. According to Conflict Theory, there are unfair privileges for the rich as they have the power to perpetrate unfair systems that work to their advantage. In American prisons, the whites have more privileges than the people of color who face more suffering compared to the rest. In the experiment, the wardens have powers over the prisoners and use it to inflict pain and suffering. Similarly, in the current society prisons face similar challenges with many prisoners suffering in the hand of the wardens. Some prisoners are dying in the cells and the main debate is to improve prisons to be places for behavior correction and not torture..

Need assistance with this?