Discussion
Solomon Kane
Discussion3.docxBackground:
According to Phillip Zimbardo,"What happens when you put good people in an evil place? Does humanity win over evil, or does evil triumph?" These are some of the questions posed in the Zimbardo Prison Experiment conducted at Standford University in 1971.
The Zimbardo Prison Experiment was conducted to examine the roles people play in prison situations, Zimbardo converted a basement of the Stanford University psychology building into a mock prison. He advertised for students to play the roles of prisoners and guards for two weeks.
More than 70 applicants answered the ad and were given diagnostic interviews and personality tests to eliminate candidates with psychological problems, medical disabilities, or a history of crime or drug abuse. The study comprised 24 male college students (chosen from 75 volunteers) who were paid $15 per day to take part in the experiment. Prisoners were treated like every other criminal, being arrested at their own homes, without warning, and taken to the local police station. They were fingerprinted, photographed and booked. Then they were blindfolded and driven to the psychology department of Stanford University, where Zimbardo had had the basement set out as a prison, with barred doors and windows, bare walls and small cells. Within hours of beginning the experiment some guards began to harass prisoners. They behaved in a brutal and sadistic manner, apparently enjoying it. Zimbardo concluded people will readily conform to the social roles they are expected to play, especially if the roles are as strongly stereotyped as those of the prison guards (McLeod, 2016).
The Zimbardo Prison Experiment and the Milgram Experiment of 1963 demonstrate that human beings, on the one hand, tend to take on the roles that they are assigned and even change their personality to do so, and, on the other hand, tend to obey authority even when such seems to be the wrong thing to do.
The ethical implications of these studies demonstrate how the real, or perceived, idea of authority can impact our morals and ethical behavior.
There are numerous historical examples including the National Socialist Movement seen in Germany in the first first half of the 20th century and more recently in the horrors of Abu Ghraib.
What became known as "the Abu Ghraib Scandal" came to public attention in 2003 when Amnesty International (AI) published reports of human rights abuses by the U.S. military and its coalition partners at detention centers and prisons in Iraq. These included reports of brutal treatment of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison. In 2003, the Associate Press released a special report on such alleged abuses. The report described horrible abuse of the prisoners at the hands of their American captors: "They confined us like sheep," the newly freed Saad Naif, 38, said of the Americans." They hit people. They humiliated people" (Hersh, 2004).
The lack of ethical conduct by several members of the United States military begs to question, if personnel thought certain acts conducted at Abu Ghraib were "morally wrong," why did they conduct such actions and dehumanize detainees? Did authority instruct them it was ok to do so?
Stanford Prison Experiment
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAX9b7agT9o
In this video you will see original footage and descriptions of Zimbardo’s famous experiment conducted at Stanford University in 1971:
Milgram Experiment
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DxSKTSoA_E
This is a short documentary on the famous Milgram Obedience experiment conducted at Yale University in 1963. Consider in these videos how authority plays a role in establishing or changing values and thus ethical behavior. How are our values shaped and altered by those we perceive to be in authority.
Obedience to Authority
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xw-L-ljrzbo
This short video discusses how obedience to authority can result in unethical behavior.
Ethical Leadership, Part 1: Perilous at the Top
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=6&v=gg-cbwOeScA
This video discusses the moral example set by leaders has a major impact upon the behavior of their subordinates, good and bad, ethical and unethical. Despite their career success, leaders may be particularly vulnerable to ethical lapses.
Ethical Leadership, Part 2: Best Practices
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7e-v2h2Dy0A
Psychological research provides guidance as to how leaders can create a workplace culture that encourages ethical behavior by employees, which this video highlights.
Prompt
In a posting of at least 150 words, with one IWG reference, (your text is fine) explain whether or not you would be able to stand up to authority because you believe that what is being asked of you or what is being done is unethical. If you have stood up to authority in the past, were any types of motivation used to persuade you to do so? Finally, present an example of a real historical figure, which has stood up to authority due to a conflict of ethical standards.
Make sure you address the following questions within your response:
1. Answer whether or not you would be able to authority if you were asked to do something you deemed unethical.
2. Have you ever stood up to authority in the past regarding something you felt to be unethical? If so, why did you do so? What was the outcome?
3. Finally, present an example of a real historical figure, which has stood up to authority due to a conflict of ethical standards? Whom did they stand up to? What was the issue in question? What was the outcome?
Reply Requirements
