Destini Jordan

1 March 2016
Eng Comp II
Elizabeth Kent
In Jack Martins 20th Century Students of Evil academic journal, he talks a lot
about the history of two major psychologist experiments, their harsh effects of
experimenting, and what connects them to their interest in conducting such
experiments revolving around the effects of concentration camps during World War
II. Both of the experimenters were directly affected by the war, either by fear or
direct involvement. His research is relatively new given the publication date of last
year; however, older sources can also work as these experiments took place in the
mid 1900s. It has been revised a few times, so it stays up-to-date on its topic.
Martins approach was to provide more background knowledge to the causes and
effects of experiments conducting as a result of World War II as he states the he
expects all psychologists to research this topic and that they would also be quite
familiar with Milgram and Beckers experiments. His paper provides an extensive
amount of knowledge, though, for the most part is not related to my topic except its
brief evaluation of the experiments. Most of this academic journal consists of finding
connections as to why the experiments were conducted. However, I decided the
small amount of information associated with my topic is very useful and reliable as
it has been published by the American Psychological Department. I am not certain if
Jack Martin is a professor on the topic or a student majoring in psychology.
Martin, Jack. "Ernest Becker And Stanley Milgram: Twentieth-Century Students Of
Evil." History Of
Psychology 19.1 (2016): 3-21. PsycARTICLES. Web. 1 Mar. 2016.

The Stanford prison experiment was conducted on several healthy, youngadult men to research and test why individuals conform to their surroundings and
roles and commit acts they would otherwise be against in their normal settings.
OToole writes about how some of the experimenters reacted to the results of the
experiment. New researchers joining the experiment reported being horrified with
acts taking place within the mock prison. Many of the new researchers brought this
to the attention of others in the experiment who at first did not understand. Once
they realized how they changed within the experiment, they put an end to it. I feel
this is very beneficial to my research paper because it shows instances where
people commit acts against their natural will. Many conform to their surrounding
and their roles. This directly correlates to acts committed by soldiers during World
War II. I wanted to understand why soldiers would murder numerous Jews in
concentration camps and never speak up against the acts they did not agree with.
The Stanford prison experiment leads to another reason of conformity and an

unconscious fear of not fitting in or being accepted. There may also be fear of being
ridiculed. This could explain why soldiers went along with the cruelty committed.
OToole, Katheleen. The Stanford Experiment: Still Powerful After All These Years.
Stanford News Service. 1997. Web. 2 March 2016.