<html>
<head>
<style><!--
.hmmessage P
{
margin:0px;
padding:0px
}
body.hmmessage
{
font-size: 10pt;
font-family:Tahoma
}
--></style>
</head>
<body class='hmmessage'><div dir='ltr'>
> From: tedks@riseup.net<br>> To: cyborg@lists.noisebridge.net<br>> Date: Thu, 14 Jul 2011 10:36:05 -0400<br>> Subject: Re: [Cyborg] Stanford Prison Experiment followup<br>> <br>> <BR><div><pre>> On Thu, 2011-07-14 at 08:22 -0400, Eric Boyd wrote:<br>> > <a href="http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2011/julaug/features/spe.html" target="_blank">http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2011/julaug/features/spe.html</a><br>> > <br>> > It's amazing how different the different participants stories are <br>> > compared to the standard story. I think especially telling is the one <br>> > guard who says he planned what came over him - he lead the efforts of <br>> > the guards to break down the prisoners. It strikes me that without him, <br>> > the entire experiment may have turned out quite differently. How would <br>> > the world be different if the Stanford Prison Experiment had resulted in <br>> > people playing guitars happily for 2 weeks?<br>> > <br>> > Eric<br> <br>> I'm sure he took that account from his journal, where he wrote down his<br>> plan before participating in the experiment and got it dated and<br>notarized.<br> <br>> If the Stanford Prison Experiment was people playing guitars happily for<br>> two weeks, people would deny that situations have stronger effects on<br>> people's behaviors than static personality traits. This is quite<br>> different from today, where people deny that situations have stronger<br>> effects on people's behaviors than static personality traits, and<br>> there's a lot of empirical evidence to back up that claim, like the<br>> Milgram studies, the Stanford Prison Experiments, the Robber's Cave<br>> experiment, Asch's line study, and every study on correspondence<br>> bias/fundamental attribution error, to name a few.<br> <br>> </rant></pre><pre> </pre><pre>There was also a follow up study in Poland, with the same results -- they </pre><pre>called off the experiment when things got out of hand. That there are </pre><pre>people who organize others in abusive behavior punctuates the outcome </pre><pre>even more: we all have within us the ability to be abusive -- given the </pre><pre>right (or wrong) circumstances. This is good to know. We have more </pre><pre>choice to respond, rather than react (or to choose to go along with </pre><pre>others, or not), when we are more conscious of ourselves.</pre><pre> </pre><pre>Mitch.</pre><pre> </pre></div> </div></body>
</html>