Week 2: Stanford's Prison Experiment

I found that Dr. Zimbardo's prison experiment was dangerous but ethical.  Dr Zimbardo mitigated the danger by screening each student for mental defect and remaining present for most of the experiment.  I think that most people were surprised of the finding or result which triggered outrage in regards to his method.  Any type of experiment involving human interaction should be very closely vetted and tested before it is implemented on human subjects.  Although I am sure that none of these student ever went to prison, their behavior reflects what society defined as the prisoner / guard role at the time.  I'm sure that most of this behavior was learned from TV and situations transpiring in society at the time.  I'm sure it was common to turn on the TV and find police night sticking protesters or watch the movie Cool Hand Luke to help define their behavior.
     I also found it interesting that Dr. Zimbardo drew the conclusion that the escalation of violence was predicated on the verbal exchange of insults between prisoners and guards magnified by long periods on inactivity.  I also found it interesting that this also led to the violence experienced at Abu Ghraib.  I would think that we would be able to apply some of what we learned to our own civilian and military prisons.