It's also important to note and remember: Psychological science didn't end in 1980. There are plenty of people working, hard and carefully, on questions implicated in the prison experiment / Milgram electroshock test etc
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Findings today tend not to be as dramatic or shocking as these old tests (or perhaps, more accurately, stunts). But we can definitely still learn about things like why one human would see another as lesserhttps://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/3/7/14456154/dehumanization-psychology-explained …
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Also to note on the prison experiment, specifically. It was never really a great piece of science, with good data. It was more like a demonstration. Or, perhaps, an early version of a reality show. I think its impact is more in pop-science than in academia. (But I might be wrong)
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But even with studies that are more scientific, we shouldn't be so shocked when the early work looks different upon reexamination. It's how the sausage of science is made.
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And it's heartening to know there's a whole lot of social scientists thinking deeply about reforms -- So that the studies of today aren't met with such whiplash 30 years from now (though some certainly will!)
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Here's a more heartening tale about an old study being cut down to size. https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2018/6/6/17413000/marshmallow-test-replication-mischel-psychology … It shows how science ought to be updated.
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I remember reading Feynman's 'Surely you're joking Mr Feynman' where he discussed a psychology experiment with another student and suggested repeating the original experiment they were doing a variant of and then changing to make sure it was the thing they were changing.
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The student thought it was a great idea but their supervisor told them that this was a waste of time and it had already been done. I hope that the field has more repetition of experiments to confirm results these days. (The story about rats in mazes was also good)
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In the case of Stanford Prison, the experiment made a big impact in pop culture too because of the larger-than-ilife persona of Zimbardo, who is a skilful public performer who has maintained control of the narrative until recently.
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Who also wrote intro psych textbooks until recently, right?
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Textbooks, TV series too.
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Great article. These issues seem broadly relevant for scientific textbooks, not just in psychology. e.g. My biology textbook in 2009 listed "might cause autism" as a possible downside of vaccines...
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Great read. Thank you
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really excellebt piece
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Science is not the accumulation of knowledge. Science is a process, a methodology, a search for knowledge. Yet people often trumpet the knowledge claimed rather than question the methodology used - and call themselves scientists.
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How come that people are being totured in prisons? Are the torturers just friendly people with no capacity to harm.
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No, what the Stanford Prison Experiment shows is that if you set up a system where people are directed, permitted, and expected to abuse and harm, they will either quit or comply. Whether the people are good or bad is irrelevant if the environment is made to be harmful.
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So the tortures are to excused?
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No, but we can't let the blame end at them. They committed crimes, but did not do so because they are good or evil. Ending there lets system off the hook, which is the actual problem.
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Well is not that a bit too much of taking away one's own responsibility by blaming something or somebody else?
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Why? If the system is in part responsible, why are you taking away its responsibility by blaming someone else?
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