Zimbardo Prison Experiment. The Dynamics of Attitude and Behaviour Essay

Zimbardo Prison Experiment. The Dynamics of Attitude and Behaviour - Essay Example (Rothman-Marshall, 6 Jan 99) However, when a person performs an action contradictary to a strongly held belief or opinion, there is a jarring feeling that distresses, which psychologist Leon Festinger describes as that uncomfortable feeling one gets when one "finds oneself doing something that doesn't fit with what one knows." This chafing sensation, known as cognitive dissonance, is glaringly visible in the Zimbardo Prison Experiment. For the two-week experiment, a group of students were paid to participate in a simulated situation where half the randomly chosen students were 'prisoners' and the other half, 'guards'. The students took to the roles they were acting, and soon the life-like 'prison' was a scene of realistic baton-wielding tyrannical uniformed guards subjugating and abusing the hapless, helpless prisoners to such an extent that few even suffered from severe trauma, and had to be replaced. During the experiment, it was noted that decent, (presumably) law-abiding boys behaved in a manner totally contradictory to their normal attitudes. The 'guards' often abusing and manipulating the 'prisoners' who, stripped of their identity, debased and dehumanised, acted out the part of the oppressed 'prisoner'.