“The experiment” is a film that I really loved. It tells the true story of an experiment in social psychology that went very wrong. This experiment which was actually tried out in 1971 at Stanford by professor Philip Zimbardo called “Stanford experiment”. To scientifically study human behavior, a scientist locks up twenty volunteers in a prison universe. Among them, “guards” and “prisoners”. But the situation is deteriorating. The experience exceeds all that was expected. His wish was to make the public aware of these processes that how easily “completely normal” people are ready to act with inhuman brutality or to submit completely. This experiment studies the issue of extreme brutality that a person can develop when given unlimited power. This film transcribes very well what happened, however, we could find that some scenes are very violent and it may shock to imagine that they really happened because of a psychologist. Psychology advances the knowledge we have of humans, however, it is essential to limit what we can and cannot do. This film sets the limits of the experiences we can achieve as a psychologist. We can add that it also sets the limits that we have concerning self-knowledge. Indeed, we do not imagine for a moment that a gentle person like a lamb can become the worst tyrant. Conversely, we could have imagined that people in prison help each other, but this is not the case. This experience has degenerated and it is clear that studying social mechanisms is essential to avoid this kind of problem in a real context. Indeed, this experience is also based on what happened during the 2nd World War. How very benevolent Germans became monstrous collaborators. the monstrosity which the human being can display is insane.
Words I have learned :
Tyrant : tyran
Self knowledge : connaissance de soi
Conversely : a contrario
Insane : insensé