The Stanford Prison Experiment-okay for 13 yo?

[Halcyon]

Thanks for opinions. ETA He is emotionally mature in that he can handle fairly heavy topics. 

[Jean in Newcastle]

The movie?  I wouldn't for my 13 year old.  I would for my 18 year old.  

[Joanne]

Thanks for opinions. ETA He is emotionally mature in that he can handle fairly heavy topics. 

 

 

Hm. At 13, he's on the young stage (to use WTM developmental psychology!) of the Rhetoric stage. He's likely to still hold onto how he would "not do that" and would be different, and that there was something WRONG with the people in the study rather than something human that was observed in the study.

 

A good video (I use this when teaching AP Psych)

 

http://www.learner.org/series/discoveringpsychology/19/e19expand.html

[idnib]

I always check Common Sense Media and based on what they are saying, I would say no. This is the only movie I've ever checked where their recommended age was 18. Usually even for Rated R movies they have age 15-17. If you decide to go ahead, check the "Families can talk about..." section for discussion topics afterwards.

[SporkUK]

I second idnib if you mean the movie and would point more towards videos and links like Joanne put up if you mean discussing it as a topic. It's a rather complicated topic even for adults to get their head around and that's before we throw in alternative interpretations of what happened (as the people that were studied were of the same demographic, it is arguable that the actions cannot be said to be human nature as a whole but the socialization of society of that demographic and the results of that socialization when pushed is one among many alternative interpretations). Personally, I wouldn't go into it with a 13 year old even if they can handle heavy materials, I can't think of a good reason to do so and so many not to do so. 

[Luckymama]

I'm smack in the middle of writing an AP Psych syllabus and came across an article for which some of the participants were interviewed, forty years later. You might add that.

 

http://alumni.stanford.edu/get/page/magazine/article/?article_id=40741

[Ausmumof3]

I second idnib if you mean the movie and would point more towards videos and links like Joanne put up if you mean discussing it as a topic. It's a rather complicated topic even for adults to get their head around and that's before we throw in alternative interpretations of what happened (as the people that were studied were of the same demographic, it is arguable that the actions cannot be said to be human nature as a whole but the socialization of society of that demographic and the results of that socialization when pushed is one among many alternative interpretations). Personally, I wouldn't go into it with a 13 year old even if they can handle heavy materials, I can't think of a good reason to do so and so many not to do so.

I double like this... Hearing a simplified version of the research made me think a certain way about people for a while which is not really borne out by the experiment, as it extends way beyond the scope of the original experiment even ignoring the issues with the way the research was carried out.

 

If you did it I would want to do it as part of a study with other resources around the theme, giving a balanced view.

[creekland]

We need to watch the movie yet, but middle son watched it on Sat (at Stanford, including a Q & A with Dr. Zimbardo and his wife) and we discussed it a bit yesterday.

 

I'd have had no problems showing it to my guys in any of their teen years, but we always treated ours as more mature than many would with movies like Hotel Rwanda and similar.  Good discussions are key.  And you need to know your kids.  I would not just do it with "any" kids.