Was it ethical to do the prison study in the way that Zimbardo conducted it?  Why or why not?  Explain your position substantively. Please consider 1971 and social issues that may have influenced Dr. Zimbardo's desire to conduct the experiment. 

2. What social psychological constructs did the study reveal? Would the same information have been learned if the study had been conducted differently? If yes, how might you adapt the study to address ethical concerns and still obtain results relevant to our understanding of behavior in social settings?

3. How do the social psychology concepts of conformity and the power of the social situation that we are studying this week relate to what happened during the brief period of time that the prison study ran.  Where in the description of how the study unfolded did we see evidence of these concepts?

4. What is a question about compliance, or conformity, or social roles that you can ask your peers to promote further discussion?

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1 The Stanford Prison Experiment conducted by Dr Zimbardo in 1971 has been widely criticized for its ethical implications The study involved subjectin... View the full answer