After watching the Stanford Prison Experiment documentary, spend some time reflecting on the experiment and your reactions to it. Then, answer the following questions.
1. Who is Dr. Philip Zimbardo, and what was the original purpose of the Prison Experiment he designed?
2. In the experiment, what police procedures were used during the arrests and imprisonment, and how did these procedures lead people to feel confused, fearful, and dehumanized?
3. How do you explain the guards' behaviors in the experiment?
4. Imagine that you had been a participant in the experiment. If you had been assigned to the role of guard, what type of guard do you think you would have become? How sure are you?
5. Now imagine you had been assigned to the role of prisoner. Do you think that you would have been able to endure the experience? What would you have done differently than the actual subjects did?
6. Define the concept of roles in the workplace.
7. What relevance does this study have our understanding of roles, and ethics, in the workplace?