The Boundaries of Reality: Examining "The Quiet Rage: The Stanford Prison Experiment"

In an experiment portrayed in The Quiet Rage; The Stanford Prison Experiment, a prison was created in the basement of a Psychology building and participants either played the role as a prisoner or guard. It is possible for a simulated situation like this prison to become a reality for the people involved, which can be explained through various sociological theories and concepts. Participants were "stable" male college students who were paid to be in the prison simulation. Going into the experiment the participants saw the prison simulation as somewhat fake and simply a job, but by the end of a mere four days, participants felt like it was a real prison and some "prisoners" felt a dire need to get out of the experiment, their reality.

Reality is defined as being socially constructed and based on certain boundaries being present. These boundaries include temporal, spatial, artifactual, emotional, and norms and roles (Class Notes; Berger & Luckmann, 5-19-04). The experiment was constructed to simulate a realistic prison. The mock prison lasted all 24 hours of the day, which can be seen in the counts done at any hour, which defined the temporal boundary. The spatial boundary is defined in the cell and the limited space the prisoners and the guards were allowed to be. All of the props such as the nightsticks used by the guards, the uniforms that the prisoners were forced to where, and the chains around the prisoners feet (symbolizing their imprisonment), represent the artifactual boundaries. The emotional boundaries were established through the norms and the roles that the guards and prisoners played because as time went on the guards demanded more and more respect and had power over the prisoners, which can be seen through the dictated letter the prisoners sent home to their parents. The prisoners quickly learned if they were to retaliate they would be punished such as prisoner 8612 and prisoner 416 (The Quiet Rage). Through these boundaries, which exhibit the elements of reality this simulated prison is seen as reality to all those involved because reality is itself a social construction.

Since this situation is defined as real, according to the W. I. Thomas Theorem, the situation in turn becomes real because humans respond to the, "...reality actively defined by them." (Class Notes; Thomas, 5-19-04). This reality of a prison was so real to the participants that the guards were able to get the prisoners to feel a loss of identity, which could be seen through calling the prisoners by their number instead of their names. As the guards became more and more sadistic with their punishments and ridiculing, which kept the prisoners in their subordinate roles, the reality of the prison became crystallized even more. For example, the guards had one prisoner act as Frankenstein and go up to another prisoner and say, "I love you" to try and embarrass him through homophobia. Another example was in how the guards handled prisoner 416 when he refused to eat his sausages and how they locked him in the closet (solitary confinement) for extended periods of time with ridicule from guards and fellow prison-mates (The Quiet Rage). In addition, the reality of the prison to a prisoner can be seen in one of the prisoner's comments, "...it was a prison to me, it still is a prison to me, I don't regard it as an experiment or a simulation..." (Ferguson, 57). Other prisoners such as 8612 felt the need to act as if he had gone crazy or just do anything to get out, which was only after 36 hours (The Quiet Rage). The participants in the experiment responded to their reality, a prison, as real, partly because of the roles and norms of the participants and the actions they took in the experiment.
The reality of the prison was real to the individuals because of the way the other participants saw them and treated them within their roles. As stated by Cooley's, 'Looking Glass Self' theory: "An individual can only reflect upon and form images of him/her self through the imaginary adoption of someone else's perspective" (Class Notes; Cooley, 5-19-04). Both the prisoners and the guards defined themselves and their actions based on the way they saw each other. The prisoners began to loose their identity, because the guards saw the prisoners simply as numbers. In addition, the prisoners themselves referred to each other as their numbers and when the priest came to visit with them half of them identified themselves as their number and when they were asked why they were in prison, most of them responded with the reason the police gave them when they were pseudo-arrested. While many of the guards were shocked with their behavior and did not think it was possible for them to act in such sadistic manners and not even feel guilty or any regret until after the experiment ended. These actions and responses by the guards are due to the prisoners respect for the guards and the guards' view on each other as well. Among the guards there was one that was nicknamed "John Wayne" because of his ability to publicly humiliate the prisoners through homophobia, solitary confinement, and whatever was necessary to dominate the prisoners (The Quiet Rage). Therefore, it is apparent that people see themselves and act according to the way those around see them, and since the participants are playing roles the reality of the prison is made even more real through the way the individual participants see themselves.

It seems absurd that a simulated prison could evoke such strong responses in just a few days, but this mock prison really did become a reality to the participants. Reality in itself is a social construction and is therefore real to the individuals involved. Individuals then define themselves based on how others see them, which contributes to the crystallization of the reality.