the stanford experiment.

The Stanford experiment says a lot about the power of context. the context in the case of the experiment was a mock jail. It was an experiment with a frightening outcome. the captors began to exhibit sadistic behaviors. unfortunately this experiment holds true in the real world. It's one of the most disturbing facets of context in Gladwell's book. It's also a fairly common issue...who remembers Abu Gharib that was just a few years ago and a few months ago we heard about black water. there are all kinds of alarming stats on how often incarcerated women are sexually assaulted by guards.When i read about what guards are capable of inflicting on prisoners it makes me wonder about the human psyche. Is it possible that if put under the right level of stress and supplied with relatively unchecked power that we default to sadistic behavior. Or is it possible that prison guards are a sort of self selecting breed that subconsciously or consciously lust after these kinds of situations. We may all have this capability with in us but are conditioned out of it. If i was ever in the position of a guard i would like to think that i wouldn't resort to this kind of behavior. From my experience with being incarcerated I can tell you that i might not necessarily be able to resist. when i was in jail I didn't feel connected to any thing I felt stripped and raw and dehumanized. I think its very possible that the guards may be reacting to their subconscious worries that they are just one misstep away from being in prison themselves. When they treat the prisoners in completely sadistic and dehumanizing manner it creates a difference between the captor and captive. Its a sick way to comfort yourself when you add the context and stress together with the laws of Gladwell's epidemic people can be caused to do some twisted things.