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>Those who thought that they would be participating in a prison study had significantly higher levels of aggressiveness, authoritarianism, Machiavellianism, nar
by ccvannorman 11y ago
>Those who thought that they would be participating in a prison study had significantly higher levels of aggressiveness, authoritarianism, Machiavellianism, narcissism, and social dominance, and they scored lower on measures of empathy and altruism.
So the experiment suffered from the same sort of selection bias that goes into hiring for prison guards or other authoritative punitive figures? Seems pretty realistic to me. Prison guards are not selected from the population at random.
- azernik 11y agoAbsolutely. The problem, however, is that the experiment has been used in popular culture to make broader statements about other social settings.
- crdoconnor 11y agoWhere has it been used that it wouldn't apply? It would seem to me that the only place it wouldn't apply would be where authority figures are somehow picked at random. How common is that?
- azernik 11y agoGenerally, it's cited you make a point about how anyone's moral behavior is caused by the roles society expects of them. E.g. "we would all be war criminals if we were drafted into a criminal army", or the like.
- pron 11y agoThe article explicitly mentions that point and discusses the implications in the conclusion.
- PhasmaFelis 11y agoExcept that the experiment has mainly been used to make sweeping statements about all humans, not just prison guards.
- golergka 11y agoThat's correct. However, the experiment was later popularly interpreted as `ordinary people turning tyrannical`, and that's what incorrect.
- crdoconnor 11y agoHigher than average levels of authoritarianism and aggressiveness doesn't mean that they are especially abnormal.
- golergka 11y agoAgreed. But it doesn't mean that they are not especially abnormal as well. So, essentially, we don't know it and we shouldn't pretend that we know.