Prison Life

Today, I took an unexpected trip to the Center of the History of Psychology. A friend of mine who is a student in another language composition class had to visit the museum, so I tagged along. Many of the experiments and illusions I was familiar with because of past psychology classes, but there was one experiment that really stuck out to me. It was the Stanford Prison Experiment. To learn more about the experiment, click here.

Imagine being in a prison--as either a guard or a prisoner--just for two short weeks. Sounds pretty doable, huh? Well, to the college students at Stanford, this experiment seriously affected their emotions, which caused the experiment to end eight days short. Apparently, the students who were playing the roles of guards became cruel and began to believe they were actual guards. Those who portrayed the prisoners became depressed and were struggling on the prison-like conditions. After visiting this museum stand, I was curious to how I would fare in this experiment.

I have always joked that if I were to ever go to prison, I would not be able to handle it, but after thinking about it, I know that really is not a joke! If college students became depressed after running an experiment for six days, I cannot fathom what actual prison would be like. Part of me would like to take part in that experiment just to see what it would be like, but I would not want it to last over two days! Reading about this experiment has given me a sudden interest in prison life, so maybe watching a documentary about it would be much more beneficial than actually going to prison!

I learned several things from my adventures today. First, it is always a good idea to check out events and places at campus because I never know what I could find. I also learned that prison is not a joke, so I better never end up there!