Joseph BebcoSocial PsychologyStanford Prison Experiment - EthicsEthical Considerations: Stanford Prison ExperimentThe Stanford Prison Experiment, as it was/is called, was conducted in 1971 by a psychologist named Filippo Zimbardo. He and his colleagues set up an experiment that examined the impacts of becoming a prison guard or prisoner. Zimbardo explains that the question he and his researchers wanted to answer asked how participants would react if placed in a role of total control or helplessness. Zimbardo goes on to say, "Suppose we just had normally healthy children, psychologically and physically, and they knew that they were going to end up in a prison-like environment and that some of their civil rights were going to be sacrificed. Would those good people be put in that place? ugly and evil: would their goodness triumph?” The Stanford Prison Experiment is often cited as a prime example of unethical research. The experiment cannot be replicated by researchers today because it does not meet the standards set by numerous codes of ethics issued by the American Psychological Association (APA). Zimbardo acknowledges the ethical problems with the study suggesting that "although we finished the study a week earlier than expected, we didn't finish it early enough. The participants, both guards and prisoners, were subjected to severe stress. I subjects, mainly prisoners, have been harmed psychologically and physically and have been constantly deceived; an example would be that their consent for… half of the paper… is at least a little more acceptable results, I don't know if it is more ethical the experiment would give the same result. I can't think of how this experiment could be conducted "ethically", but I have faith that a team of professional psychologists could design an "ethical" experiment in prison. Stanford. As an overall assessment of the experiment, do I think the study was ethical? No. However, I believe beneficial information was absorbed by the research showing the effects on understanding how a situation can influence human behavior. The study recently gained attention after reports of abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Many people, including Zimbardo himself, suggest that the abuses at Abu Ghraib may be real-life examples of the same results observed in Zimbardo's experiment..