Sunday, February 14, 2010

How prison study can relate to society

The purpose for this experiment(Stanford prison study) was to study the effects of their roles. They studied on how people listened and obeyed depending on their positions. The roles that the students played, changed and effected their behavior and showed how roles can impact us depending on what role we take. After watching video on the prison study, I was surprised to see how people can become aggressive or weak depending on the situations they're in. What about humanism? Can people really show that they are in a demanding situation? I think, depending on the situation that they are in people can sometimes lose their humanity and coolness when they are given an order that they must obey by. I was wondering what if we compared the Stanford prison study to the society that we live in today? I believe we can find the similarities with this world today. There is always a high and low status regardless of school, work, or even at home. For an example, when an employee is promoted from sales associate to a higher level manager, they immediately find themselves taking that role further and telling the associates that he/she manages and tells them what to do. Now some may take time getting use to the position but there are some who takes it further and enjoys the power they gain. We find ourselves obeying to our teachers, boss, and parents when we are in a lower level position because that is what we were tought to do in order to avoid troubles. It's just the way society runs and we have to live with it. My questions are is there a way we can get out of situation like this? Should we blame society or human nature for our actions?

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