Week Two Blog Entry: The Stanford Prison Experiment

After studying the Stanford Prison experiment, I had a hard time trying to make up my mind as to whether I thought this experiment was ethical or not. This experiment was very controversial and had many negative outcomes. It had permanent emotional and psychological effects on the subjects of the experiment. This led me to think that it was an unethical experiment. However, I started to look at it from a symbolic interactionalism point of view. This theory looks at everything at a micro level and focuses on the interactions between people. I do not think that Dr. Zimbardo meant to cause this type of harm to the subjects of his experiment. He did know that it could be a tough situation for the subjects that were chosen to be prisoners, but he never thought the experiment was going to turn out the way that it did. I think that Dr. Zimbardo simply got caught up in the experiment, as many of the subjects did as well, and this caused him to lose touch with reality as it was occurring. When his girlfriend told him that he had changed in a negative way, he finally realized the severity of the study that he was doing. He ended the experiment after 6 days. Because of this, I do think that the Stanford Prison experiment was ethical. However, given the way the experiment turned out, I think it would be unethical for any other psychologist or sociologist to try and repeat this experiment. 

Week One Blog Entry: Introduction

Hi, my name is Jennifer. I was born in London, England. My family moved to America when I was young because my dad got offered a job in D.C. and we have been living in Woodbridge, VA ever since. In May, I graduated from University of Virginia with a B.S. in chemistry. I have now decided that I want to apply for a second-degree nursing program, so I am now a part time student at NVCC to take a few prerequisites. I am taking this class because I want to be a nurse and to learn more about how people interact with each other. I enjoy reading, watching movies, working out, listening to music and spending time with friends/family. My favorite movie is Love Actually. Some of my favorite bands are Brand New, Taking Back Sunday, Weezer, and Green Day.