If you were a prisoner, would you have been able to
endure the experience? What would you have done differently than those subjects
did? If you were imprisoned in a "real" prison for five years or
more, could you take it?
If
I were to be the prisoner in the experiment, I would have not endured the
experience. The circumstances would also depend, but if the situations were to
be the same as the original experiment from the film, I would have definitely
not been able to survive it all the way to its due date. The reasons for not
able to stand the circumstances of the “experimental” prison would be that, since
I know it is an experiment, I wouldn’t feel obligated to obey or to bow down to
the guards. And knowing so, being bullied by the prison guards would make me
feel very uncomfortable and would hurt my pride.
Several
things that I can think of doing while being in the prison cell, is to be
obedient and friendly as possible. Enduring everything quietly and staying out
of trouble would be the action that I would take. In the film we watched the
men who were obedient were rewarded with extra food, other goods, or any
advantages over the disobedient prisoners. If all goes well, to be friends with
the nicer prison guards if possible.
If
I were to be in a real prison for five years with the same situation of having
horrible bossy prison guards, I would have not been able to have a healthy
mentality or physicality because of the abusing and would end up killing myself
or go mentally crazy. The possible horrible treatment by the guards, the fact
that I have nothing to look forward to, and the rights of my freedom taken away
would kill my spirits and the experience would totally change who I am. ,
1 comment:
Richard Grimaldi
If you were a prisoner, would you have been able to endure the experience? What would you have done differently than those subjects did? If you were imprisoned in a "real" prison for five years or more, could you take it?
Even though I would like to think I could take being a mock prisoner, I would probably break pretty quickly. I have been told and I agree that I have some issues with authority. I attended a strict catholic grammar school. When I was younger I had no problem telling off the nuns and acting out in destructive ways. Over time, in adulthood, I learned how to control myself a little. Unfortunately the way I learned to compensate was to clam up and avoid confrontation with any person I see as an authority figure, especially law enforcement.
If I was a prisoner I think the feeling of being trapped by not having the option of avoiding control would make me break down. I don’t deal well with seeing people being mistreated either. I most likely would not have chosen to keep my bedding as a trade for another prisoner being put in solitary (as in the Stanford Prison experiment.)
As far as being in a real prison I think I would have similar issues but on a larger scale. The thought of being locked up for five years is horrifying to me. I would probably do anything I could to suck up to the guards which would make me miserable in itself.
There are a few laws I break on a regular basis but I always make sure my actions wouldn’t warrant jail time.
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