May 2003
The shocking pictures of prisoner treatment in Iraq leave many of us shaking our heads in disbelief. How can American soldiers, including female soldiers, become so inhuman? Are we all capable of such acts. I don't think so, and some background might be helpful. Studies conducted over 30 years ago demonstrated that college students pretending to be prison guards turned on their fellow student “prisoners” in a similar manner. They were not as abusive as what we’ve seen in Iraq, but it got so bad that the experiment had to be cancelled.
In Phillip Zimbardo’s 1971 Stanford study student volunteers were divided into "prisoners" and "guards." The "guards" quickly become sadistic and the "prisoners" became seriously depressed. The project had been designed to last for two weeks, but was ended after only six days. Zimbardo is quoted as saying of the recent Iraq revelations "I was not surprised that it happened…I have exact, parallel pictures of prisoners with bags over their heads." These college students took advantage of their student "prisoners" with no prior training or history of violence. Should we really be surprised when American soldiers do the same thing?
Zimbardo’s study would probably not be possible today because of stricter standards for conducting human subject research in the United States. Earlier work by Stanley Milgram would certainly not be possible today. Milgram told student subjects that they were in an experiment about teaching through punishment. The subjects were instructed by a researcher in a white lab coat to deliver electric shocks to another participant, who was labeled the "student." Each time the “student” gave a wrong answer to a question, the subject was ordered to deliver a shock. The shocks got stronger, at the researcher's insistence, with labels on the equipment suggesting that the subjects were delivering 450 volts to the "student".
The "students" moaned and screamed, but 65% of subjects administered the highest shock ordered, beyond 450 volts, at a setting marked "XXX" – suggesting that this shock might be potentially fatal. When debriefed afterward, the phrase "just following orders" was heard frequently.
What about the 35% who did not administer the "lethal" shocks to their fellow students? Milgram’s study and Zimbardo’s prison study are often used to make the point that we are all capable of such sadistic behavior under the right circumstances. This is not true. What they really prove is that many of us are capable of such behavior. Some subjects in these experiments refused to follow orders when these orders including injuring another person. Identifying such persons and placing them in leadership positions might be an important step to keep such tragedies from recurring.
Last updated 11/9/05
