Psychology paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Psychology paper - Essay Example One of the first similarities between what took place at the prison outside of Baghdad and what unraveled at the makeshift prison at Stanford is that the people portraying the guards had no previous experience in those roles. The United States soldiers only had experience as soldiers, but they still enforced their authoritative roles on their prisoners, much like the guards in the prison experiment. These roleplaying guards also did not have experience, though that did not stop them from making it known who had the greater power. In both cases, the soldiers and the pseudo-guards conformed to the roles of real prison guards the more that they exercised their power over the prisoners, doing what they could to dehumanize them. The guards and the prisoners alike had no choice but to accept these roles, even though the guards soon began to abuse their power. The abuse itself was similar in nature and in intensity. The purposes behind the abuse in both cases were to degrade and humiliate. The abuse was also used to instill a sense of fear in the prisoners, as well as to make it known who was in charge. The rights and bodies of the prisoners were violated, and they were denied essential aspects of a healthy life, such as food or a healthy environment.