Re: The Stanford Prison Experiment

From: Stuart Armstrong (dragondreaming@googlemail.com)
Date: Wed Mar 12 2008 - 04:55:15 MDT


> Specifically, it questions the notion that people slip mindlessly
> into role and the idea that the dynamics of evil are in any way banal. Their
> research also points to the importance of leadership in the emergence of tyranny
> (of the form displayed by Zimbardo when briefing guards in the Stanford
> experiment).
>
> As I had guessed: Zimbardo got the results he wanted.

Interesting that. I've tended to dismiss criticisms of Zimbardo in the
past (because I really hated his result, and therefore was on guard
against wishful thinking on my part; perhaps a bit too much, in fact).

Doesn't undermine my point, though. However, the quote from the
wikipedia article "In other words, the participants were merely
engaging in role-playing." does do so, to some extent. But I still
feel that situational issues are relevant to the whole "is a duplicate
me" debate.



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