Stanford Prison Experiment: Differences and Similarities Film and Real Life

In the real experiment there was a lot of humiliation and the prisoners were really dehumanized, but they were not physically hurt. In the film the prisoners weren't just mentally hurt, but also physically. (this was probably to make the film more entertaining.) In the real experiment the prisoners who were ‘'bad’' were put in a broom closet as punishment. In the film they were put in the ‘'black box’'. The idea is the same, but the black box is just smaller.

This was done, so the film would be more exciting. In the real experiment the prisoners were shaved bald so that their identity wouldn’t be shown. Got numbers which would serve as their name to hide their identity even more. In the film they weren't shaved bald they just had to wear a stocking cap, so their hare wouldn’t show.

In the fil they did get numbers as their name. In the film there was lots of violence.

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People were hurt and killed. One of the guards tried to stab a prisoner when they were trying to escape. This all didn’t happen in the real experiment. In the real experiment the prisoners were only mentally hurt. In the film the prisoners tried to escape while in real life it was just a rumour. They never really tried to escape. Reaction to source One of the articles I found was about a riot in a prison in Brazil. The prisoners demanded better circumstances, a new director and quicker judgements.

I think that this article really fits well with the topic of the Stanford prison experiment, because in the experiment the prisoners were in pretty bad circumstances and it became clear what that did to them. In brazil they now also want better circumstances, so they might be going through something similar. I think that what is described in the article shouldn’t have happened if they would have looked at the experiment and would have learned from it.

Opinion on film In my opinion it was a good film, because it became very clear what the experiment was about. They didn’t have to add the romantic part to the film, because without that part there are already lots of different emotions. I think that the romantic part really took away a bit of the effect the film has on people. Without the romance it would be (I think) more shocking. They maybe should have shown a bit clearer what had really happened and what not, so it would give even a better view of the experiment.

I really enjoyed watching the film and I thought it was very educational and fun at the same time. Opinion on the original experiment I think that the original experiment was just stupid. They could have known beforehand that this would not be a good idea. I do understand that they wanted to see what being in a prison does to people and what being a guard does to people, but I think they should have found that out by interviewing prisoners, guards and their families. That would probably not have so many consequences.