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Stanford Prison Experiment Vs Lord Of The Flies Essay

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The Stanford Prison Experiment was a psychological study that involved placing students in a mock prison and randomly selecting guards and prisoners amongst the students. This experiment took place in 1971 and each Stanford student was paid 15 dollars a day. The experiment was set to run for two weeks however failed to run longer than six days. The experiment revealed a lot of information about humanity. The experiment proved to us that when given power, humans reveal a darker side of themselves this is known as the abuse of power. When smart and level-headed people are placed into a position of power, where they have freedom to treat the powerless however they so desire, their values and morals become greatly blurred by the abuse of power. For example, students selected as guards completely transformed when they were given this power. They forced prisoners to wear bags on their heads, gave them little access to toilet, and treated them like animals. They suddenly became greatly sadistic and brutal. …show more content…

The Lord of the Flies also explored the concept of power and how it is inflicted upon others. In the book, Jack is the abuser of power and becomes more like a savage as the novel progresses. Unlike Jack, Ralph uses his power for rules and establishment. The book and experiment/film both explore the question; What will happen to psychologically healthy people when they are placed in a situation that abuses power and doesn’t engage in the rules of society? Like in the experiment, at the end of the novel one person remains the most powerful and reigns above the rest. Jack abandons the concept of society and fully engages in savagery and chaos. At the end of the experiment, the guards are in complete control despite the constant fights orchestrated by

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