Week 2 Blog: Ethical/Unethical?

I think that there are aspects to Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment that are both ethical and unethical; it is really hard for me to say that the experiment was completely unethical or completely ethical. First, although the subjects were able to choose whether or not they wanted to participate he offered them money as a reward, which probably made them more likely to participate regardless of what the study was about and consequently was a little bit unethical. One ethical thing he did was randomly assign the roles of prisoners/guards. Also, Zimbardo did not directly tell the prison guards how they should treat their "prisoners", it was left up to the guards discretion. One aspect that may be traumatizing to their prisoners is that the experiment took place in their schools psychology building basement. This would be a reminder each time they passed by the building or had a class in the building, which could have been prevented if Zimbardo held the experiment in a building off campus, in a place that people were not familiar with. After the experiment was shut down, it was noted that many "prisoners" had emotional disturbances, so Zimbardo should have made sure that they were put in therapy to help them cope. Overall, this experiment could have been handled differently, but then again so can numerous studies.

Week 1 Blog: Introductions

I'm Christina, but my close friends and family usually call me Chrissy. I don't prefer one over the other, so you guys can call me either name. I live in Northern VA, Manassas area, and have for a while now. I am a student at James Madison University studying psychology and will graduate in December 2010 (a semester early). My lifelong dream has been to become a teacher, but I cannot exactly do that with only a psychology degree, so grad school is in my future, but not necessarily my immediate future. After graduating I plan on finding some kind of job, but I'm not exactly sure what kind of job that will be. The main reason I am taking this sociology class is to fulfill my 120-credit hour minimum for graduation. I am also taking another online class through NOVA, but it is an art class.

I really enjoy cooking, reading, and exercising/being outside. Cooking is my number one hobby. I am not skilled enough to create my own things, so I am perfectly content with following a recipe or just making something out of a box (ex. a cake). My favorite books are by Jodi Picoult. I started by reading My Sister's Keeper a couple years ago and she got me hooked, so now I am reading other books from her collection. My favorite type of outdoor activity is probably biking. I love to just go for a bike ride through my neighborhood or down the parkway. My favorite type of music is country music. I have a venue that is only about 20 minutes from my house, so I will be going to a bunch of country concerts this summer, which I am extremely excited about.