From: Blunderov (squooker@mweb.co.za)
Date: Mon May 24 2004 - 13:47:51 MDT
Sent: 17 May 2004 05:26 PM
[rhinoceros]
This final paragraph brings to mind the "Stanford prison experiment" which,
although criticised by many as not scientifically rigorous, gives us good
clues about how affirmation can easily make a torturer. There is also the
newer "BBC prison experiment" which brings up a caveat:
Why not everyone is a torturer
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3700209.stm)
<snip from site>
Most notoriously, the 1971 Stanford prison experiment, conducted by Philip
Zimbardo and colleagues, seemingly showed that young students who were
assigned to the role of guard quickly became sadistically abusive to the
students assigned to the role of prisoners. </snip from site>
[Blunderov] There is a curious synchronicity in the events that took place
at Stanford:
http://atheism.about.com/b/a/085240.htm?terms=n620b
<excerpt>
Within days the "guards" had become swaggering and sadistic, to the point of
placing bags over the prisoners' heads, forcing them to strip naked and
encouraging them to perform sexual acts.
Sound familiar? Sound like anything you have read about recently?
The landmark Stanford experiment and studies like it give insight into how
ordinary people can, under the right circumstances, do horrible things -
including the mistreatment of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
... Dr. Philip G. Zimbardo, a leader of the Stanford prison study, said that
while the rest of the world was shocked by the images from Iraq, "I was not
surprised that it happened. I have exact, parallel pictures of prisoners
with bags over their heads," from the 1971 study, he said. </excerpt>
[Blunderov] Could this be explained as indicating that both sets of guards,
in spite of their towering authority, nevertheless felt constrained by
societal norms against, for the most part, inflicting actual bodily harm?
Best Regards
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