PS124 – Examining Major Perspective and Theories in Historical Psychology Research

Identify the historical research study (video) you selected from the list above.

The historical research study video I chose to discuss it the Stanford Prison experiment.

Summarize the results of this study and what implications it has with regards to human behavior and mental processes that you have learned about in Units 5-6

During the experiment, each volunteer was a “prisoner”, or a “officer”. This experiment has a great impact on all who participated, and I found it very interesting. I also found it very enlightening to see the volunteers react the same way we see real officers do daily. This video also showed how officers can take their job incorrectly by taking their position of power and doing as they please. They believed they were able to do what they wanted to because they were in the position of power and had authority over others. Watching the treatment, the “prisoners” endure was horrible. Some individuals could not take the treatment.

Discuss what is meant by social psychology and how it could apply to your research study referencing its theory and concepts.

Social psychology is when individuals are interacting with one another and the affects that occur during this interaction is studied. While watching this experiment you could see how their social environment too a large too on all who were involved. For example, the officers were taking their positions for granted and they thought they had this enormous amount of authority over the prisoners then what they had. The prisoners were suffering from the mistreatment that were served to them and it continued to make them loose their minds. Social psychology is also the study of social interaction. This experiment was to see what it was like inside a real prison, but it was also to see how it effect the human mind. This video let me witness how the people changed when given authority over others, and how individuals handled rules and the treatment given to them.

Theories are meant to help you explain and predict people’s behavior. Considering the personality theories you read about in Units 5 and 6, name one theory that helps explain what you see illustrated in the research and explain your reasons for choosing it (for example: psychodynamic, humanistic, social cognitive, behaviorism, or trait theory).

Humanistic psychology helped me see and understand the affects this experiment had. Humanistic psychology is the study of a person as a whole. Although this experiment was supposed to express and show how social interaction takes place inside a prison, you could see what it was literally doing to all volunteers. These individuals either because very demanding, they were either throwing individuals in solitary and leaving them there, or the prisoners were over all of it and couldn’t no longer handle being mistreated and they ended up back out of the experiment.

Consider whether or not you think this historical research could explain the development of psychological disorders? Explain your reasoning using reference to the study and the disorder(s).

Personally, I think that historical research could have a huge impact on explaining the development of psychological disorders. I believe this video was a perfect example and really showed what it was like for both parties involved. As I explained in the above paragraphs the “officers” expressed a demanding and controlling deminer while the “prisoners” showed how submissive they became after being mistreated and they expressed how they could no longer handle it. For those examples alone is why I believe this experiment was perfect for showing how the development of psychological disorder can form.