Though it would seem suffice to say that even the very idea of this experiment is morally corrupt, in order to learn from past mistakes they must be thoroughly explained, understood, and finally given a solution. 

 

The first place, where Zimbardo's morals seem to be in the wrong are in his allowance of food being withheld from prisoners as punishment. Though this may be common practice in actual prisons, participants in a research study should be subject to nothing more than mild pain or discomfort. To withhold food is dangerous to both their mental and physical health. Hunger can drive people to do crazy things, putting both themselves and other prisoners at risk. The responsible and moral thing to do would have been to withhold good food, not food in general. 

 

Another place where this study is questionable in respect to morals is the uniform.

 

Although, this may seem like a small thing, it is the intent behind the uniforms which is most troubling. Zimbardo designed these uniforms with the intent of causing the most humiliation and discomfort. While his goal was to put them in the mindset of prisoners as quickly as possible, this seems to cross a line. They should have had a rolling basis of prisoners so that when new prisoners came, they would be immersed in the situation by veteran prisoners. This would have allowed a realness without the immoral techniques the experimenters chose to use. 

 

Though this was mentioned as an ethical issue, there is some overlap: the coaching of the guards. This is an ethical issue because it contaminates any results/findings from the guards. It is a moral issue because the experimenters coached the guards to be more cruel. In doing so, they were advocating for worse treatment of the prisoners and wanting the guards to act more terribly. This is both immoral and incomprehensible for researchers, or anyone, to do. Instead, they should have let events take their course. 

 

Overall, throughout the course of the experiment, the researchers seemed to be more concerned with the guards, rather than the comfort of the prisoners. They seemed to forget that they were actual people. They almost seemed to think that they were real prisoners, who deserved the cruelty, rather than participants in a research study.