Realistic or Modern Reminiscent of the Stanford Prison Experiment

[Chase]

"Reminiscent of the Stanford Prison Experiment"
The controversial experiment at Stanford University ended rather quickly... and for good cause. Though the experiment was meant to last a full two weeks, it ended in a mere six days, because of the intense and extensive psychological stress the "prisoners" were put under. It did, however, teach us many things about the human mind and the way it responds to its environment. However, the results were inconclusive.
In addition to the short time frame, the experiment was flawed because of the volunteers themselves. Those who volunteered scored higher on measures of abuse-related dispositions, such as aggressiveness, authoritarianism,
Machiavellian-ism, narcissism, and social dominance, and lower on empathy and altruism. This means the results of the experiment- the extreme behaviors of the "guards", were predestined to occur. This is a hindsight, of course, and hindsight is always 20/20.
Doctor Amelia Gordan, an American sociologist, wishes to create a similar environment in today's time, using that hindsight to correct the flaws of Zimbardo's experiment. However, the American Board of Psychology has shot down her proposal numerous times. Those involved in the Stanford experiment are still dealing with the trauma today. It would be unethical to subject another group of young adults to a similar situation.
Where most would have given up, Dr. Gordan did not. She moved her experiment to an isolated house in the French countryside, and recruited her volunteers via a third party by telling them they would win an all expenses paid vacation to France, for the low price of filling out a few questionnaires.
These questionnaires were a way to find out the volunteer's social class, as well as various personality tests, both of which play a role in what part they would be given in the experiment.
Gordan's experiment differs from the original in that, instead of having a prison set up, there would be three groups of 6 young adults all living on isolated grounds for two months. The first group, what they would be calling the A's, were similar to the guards in the prison. These 6 persons will have been told that they can create any rules they want, and can enforce them however they want, as long as all six are in agreement, and no one is harmed. It will not be specified what kind of harm they mean, that is for the A's to figure out themselves. The second group, the B's, have the ability to change a rule, or void it, if they can get all 12 of the residents who are not A's to agree to change the rule. Lastly, the C's. This group has no power whatsoever.
The 18 persons involved in the experiment are located on a property in the french countryside that spans two acres. There is a small lake, a fair amount of woods, a creek, and a field of wildflowers, in addition to the large brick home. Four stories, a top of the line kitchen, two full bathrooms per floor, and 20 bedrooms, in addition to a state of the art entertainment center and two living areas, both of which have fireplaces. There is also a basement and an attic, but they have been forbidden from entering them, though the doors are not locked. The entire property is surrounded by a twelve foot high cast iron fence. Doctor Amelia and three of her interns live in a small cottage just outside the fence, watching the footage from the cameras placed in every room around the clock- and only they have the codes to access the electrified gate that is the only way on or off the property.

.​

• there will be 18 characters, as outlined in the description above.​
• two characters per person, max, and they must be one of each gender​
• there will be 9 males and 9 females​
• characters are ages 18 to 25​
• this is NOT first come first serve​
• two paragraph length posts per week, minimum​
• the doctor and her interns are npcs that i will control​
• you can request a group, but your character sheets must be very detailed as per the personality, and ultimately i will choose based on that​
• i recommend you research the experiment or at least watch the film (it's on Netflix), so you have an idea of what the rp is based on​

code by pasta​

 

[Chase]

bump

 

[Spacing Out]

Interested

 

[Chase]

Interested

oh my gosh finally i was worried no one was bothering to read the whole thing

 

[Spacing Out]

oh my gosh finally i was worried no one was bothering to read the whole thing

Haha Dont worry, It's not that long of a read.

 

[The Empress of Ice]

Interested, interested, interested, INTERESTED!!!

Honestly, you had me at the title.

 

[Chase]

Interested, interested, interested, INTERESTED!!!

Honestly, you had me at the title.

yay! I'm excited to have you on

 

[Chase]

once we get like one or two more people interested then I'll create the thread

 

[Chase]

Bump~

 

[Blank Pages]

Okay, I'm intrigued. Count me in!

Quick suggestion: Instead of a typical CS, could we instead maybe answer questionnaires or do some sort of Psychological profile on the character?

 

[The Empress of Ice]

Okay, I'm intrigued. Count me in!

Quick suggestion: Instead of a typical CS, could we instead maybe answer questionnaires or do some sort of Psychological profile on the character?

That'd be really cool actually :-O

 

[Chase]

Okay, I'm intrigued. Count me in!

Quick suggestion: Instead of a typical CS, could we instead maybe answer questionnaires or do some sort of Psychological profile on the character?

That's a cool idea. I might do a combination of both

 

[Neon Valkyrie]

I'm interested ... but on an unrelated note, I will join against my better judgment if someone in a perceived position of authority instructs me to.

... on the other hand, maybe I won't join, because I think someone else probably will ...

 

[Neon Valkyrie]

I like the idea that we don't get to see anyone's character sheet. It seems unlikely that our characters would know one another, so why should we, as players, know about the other characters? That's just me though.

>Cue secret murderer<

 

[Chase]

I like the idea that we don't get to see anyone's character sheet. It seems unlikely that our characters would know one another, so why should we, as players, know about the other characters? That's just me though.

>Cue secret murderer<

that's interesting..

 

[Chase]

one thing I will say is it's hard to take personality tests for someone else. You inevitably end up answering more for yourself with just a little bit being the other person (or character, in this case). so that idea may cause some complications

 

[Chase]

Grouse are you interested or just liking that one specific post?

 

[Neon Valkyrie]

Hmm ... well, in the original experiment the roles were randomly assigned. The negative qualities listed only came out in full once they were in the role of guard, and there were other factors;

Prisoners were dehumanized by being called only by their number, forced to wear uncomfortable prison-style uniforms and chains, had to stay there day and night in cramped quarters. They were made to live in "cells" furnished only with a cot and a light, and given a small "yard area" that consisted of a single corridor. Guards enjoyed free run of relaxation areas and had a much larger and properly furnished living space, they were also allowed to leave at the end of their shift. Guards were given a primer the day before where they were told that the point of the experiment was to take power from the "prisoners" without harming them, or withholding food. Prisoners were "arrested" that night without much notice.

Remind me wikipedia, what else ... uh, mirrored sunglasses for guards to avoid eye contact ... they were given batons as symbols of authority ... Oh, THREE prisoners to a cell, and no privacy for bathroom or shower breaks.

Jesus, I forgot how bad it got; forced nudity for degradation, that's when you know things are going well.

 

[Grouse]

Grouse are you interested or just liking that one specific post?

Count me in!

 

[The Empress of Ice]

Hmm ... well, in the original experiment the roles were randomly assigned. The negative qualities listed only came out in full once they were in the role of guard, and there were other factors;

Prisoners were dehumanized by being called only by their number, forced to wear uncomfortable prison-style uniforms and chains, had to stay there day and night in cramped quarters. They were made to live in "cells" furnished only with a cot and a light, and given a small "yard area" that consisted of a single corridor. Guards enjoyed free run of relaxation areas and had a much larger and properly furnished living space, they were also allowed to leave at the end of their shift. Guards were given a primer the day before where they were told that the point of the experiment was to take power from the "prisoners" without harming them, or withholding food. Prisoners were "arrested" that night without much notice.

Remind me wikipedia, what else ... uh, mirrored sunglasses for guards to avoid eye contact ... they were given batons as symbols of authority ... Oh, THREE prisoners to a cell, and no privacy for bathroom or shower breaks.

Jesus, I forgot how bad it got; forced nudity for degradation, that's when you know things are going well.

However, one of the biggest flaws of the whole experiment was that the recruitment of the subjects was of such a nature that it may have attracted people who inherently crave a sense of power. Everyone who volunteered knew that they could possibly be assigned the role of a guard. Therefore it didn't matter much if they assigned roles randomly, and it can't prove that any human, when given such control, will exhibit such behavior.

AKA, it could've been just a bunch of people with a sadistic streak. The recruitment nulls the effect of the random assignment.

Which makes this roleplay all the more fun, and surprisingly, a better experiment. After gathering a diverse group, with a range of different personalities, and then randomly assigning them roles and then see if they exhibit the same behavior as the subjects in the stanford prison experiment.

 

[Chase]

Hmm ... well, in the original experiment the roles were randomly assigned. The negative qualities listed only came out in full once they were in the role of guard, and there were other factors;

Prisoners were dehumanized by being called only by their number, forced to wear uncomfortable prison-style uniforms and chains, had to stay there day and night in cramped quarters. They were made to live in "cells" furnished only with a cot and a light, and given a small "yard area" that consisted of a single corridor. Guards enjoyed free run of relaxation areas and had a much larger and properly furnished living space, they were also allowed to leave at the end of their shift. Guards were given a primer the day before where they were told that the point of the experiment was to take power from the "prisoners" without harming them, or withholding food. Prisoners were "arrested" that night without much notice.

Remind me wikipedia, what else ... uh, mirrored sunglasses for guards to avoid eye contact ... they were given batons as symbols of authority ... Oh, THREE prisoners to a cell, and no privacy for bathroom or shower breaks.

Jesus, I forgot how bad it got; forced nudity for degradation, that's when you know things are going well.

I was trying to think of ways to seperate the groups a little more, but both because of RPN rules and also just the feasibility of roleplay, it's going to be significantly different from the original experiment. And, as I said in the explanation of the roleplay, all of the volunteers already had traits that were aggressive and made them prone to abuse already. That is one of the biggest flaws, and the point of the personality quiz/whatever im gonna have you do to get an in depth look at the personality of the character.
The goal is not to put aggressive types in a position of power, it's to have a group that is average as a whole, meaning there is an equal amount of characters that are aggressive as there are neutral as there are submissive, and putting an equal amount of each in each group, to see how each type reacts to each role.

 

[Chase]

the interview process they went through was essentially a personality test, so they knew about the predisposition to abuse already, but since they all had those qualities they thought it wouldn't matter. It did.

 

[Chase]

okay so we got 5/9 people we need, I'm gonna start making the threads

 

[Chase]

As for the character sheets, I'm going to have you make a normal one, but without any of the typical personality aspects. Instead, I will have a bunch of questions you will answer for your character and DM me the answer. That sound good to everyone?

 

[The Empress of Ice]

Sounds great to me :-)