Abstract
The prevailing pedagogical approach in business ethics generally underestimates or even ignores the powerful influences of situational factors on ethical analysis and decision-making. This is due largely to the predominance of philosophy-oriented teaching materials. Social psychology offers relevant concepts and experiments that can broaden pedagogy to help students understand more fully the influence of situational contexts and role expectations in ethical analysis. Zimbardo's “Stanford Prison Experiment” is used to illustrate the relevance of social psychology experiments for business ethics instruction.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Bibliography
Aron, A. and E. Aron: 1986, The Heart of Social Psychology (Lexington Books, Lexington, MA).
Bahm, A.: 1982, ‘Teaching Ethics without Ethics to Teach’, Journal of Business Ethics 1, 43–47.
Barry, V.: 1986, Moral Issues in Business, Third Ed. (Wadsworth, Belmont, CA).
Beauchamp, T.: 1983, Case Studies in Business, Society, and Ethics (Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ).
Beauchamp, T. and N. Bowie: 1983, Ethical Theory and Business, Second Ed. (Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ).
Bommer, M., C. Gratto, J. Gravander, and M. Tuttle: 1987, ‘A Behavioral Model of Ethical and Unethical Decision Making’, Journal of Business Ethics 6(4), 265–280.
Brodeur, P.: 1985, Outrageous Misconduct: The Asbestos Industry on Trial (Pantheon, New York, NY).
Cooper, D.: 1985, ‘Cognitive Development and Teaching Business Ethics’, Journal of Business Ethics 4, 313–329.
Daneke, G.: 1985, ‘Regulation and the Sociopathic Firm’, Academy of Management Review 10(1), 15–20.
Davis, K. and W. Frederick: 1984, Business and Society: Management, Public Policy, Ethics, Fifth Ed. (McGraw-Hill, New York, NY).
DeGeorge, R.: 1986, Business Ethics, Second Ed. (Macmillan, New York, NY).
DesJardins, J. and J. McCall: 1985, Contemporary Issues in Business Ethics (Wadsworth, Belmont, CA).
Donaldson, T. and P. Werhane: 1983, Ethical Issues in Business: A Philosophical Approach, Second Ed. (Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ).
Ermann, M. and R. Lundman: 1982, Corporate and Governmental Deviance: Problems of Organizational Behavior in Contemporary Society, Second Ed. (Oxford University Press, New York, NY).
Greenberg, J. and R. Cohen: 1982, Equity and Justice in Social Behavior (Academic Press, New York, NY).
Haney, C., C. Banks, and P. Zimbardo: 1973, ‘Interpersonal Dynamics in a Simulated Prison’, International Journal of Criminology and Penology 1, 69–97.
Hanson, K.: 1983, ‘Book Review: Business Ethics’, California Management Review 26(1), 162–169.
Hay, R. and E. Gray: 1981, Business and Society: Cases and Text (Southwestern Publishing, Cincinnati, OH).
Hegarty, W. and H. Sims, Jr.: 1978, ‘Some Determinants of Unethical Decision Behavior: An Experiment’, Journal of Applied Psychology 63(4), 451–457.
Hegarty, W. and H. Sims, Jr.: 1979, ‘Organizational Philosophy, Policies, and Objectives Related to Unethical Decision Behavior: A Laboratory Experiment’, Journal of Applied Psychology 64(3), 331–338.
Hoagland, J.: 1984, ‘Ethical Theory and Practice: Is There a Gap?’, Journal of Business Ethics 3, 201–205.
Hoffman, W. and J. Moore: 1984, Business Ethics: Readings and Cases in Corporate Morality (McGraw-Hill, New York, NY).
Hollander, E. and R. Hunt: 1972, Classic Contributions to Social Psychology (Oxford University Press, New York, NY).
Huston, T. and C. Korte: 1976, ‘The Responsive Bystander: Why He Helps’, in T. Lickona (ed.), Moral Development and Behavior (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York, NY), 269–283.
Karpf, F.: 1932, American Social Psychology: Its Origins, Development, and European Background (McGraw-Hill, New York, NY).
Katz, J.: 1980, ‘Concerted Ignorance: The Social Psychology of Cover-up’, in R. Elliott and J. Willingham (eds.), Management Fraud: Detection and Deterrence (Petrocelli Books, New York, NY), 149–169.
Katz, D. and R. Kahn: 1978, The Social Psychology of Organizations, Second Ed. (John Wiley & Sons, New York, NY).
Kurtines, W.: 1984, ‘Moral Behavior as Rule-governed Behavior: A Psychosocial Role-theoretical Approach to Moral Behavior and Development’, in W. Kurtines and J. Gewirtz (eds.), Morality, Moral Behavior, and Moral Development (John Wiley & Sons, New York, NY), 303–324.
Latane, B. and J. Darley: 1970, The Unresponsive Bystander: Why Doesn't He Help? (Appleton-Century-Crofts, New York, NY).
Lehman, C.: 1985, ‘A Review of Moral Issues in Business’, Journal of Business Ethics 4, 129–130, 136, 144.
Lickona, T.: 1980, ‘What Does Moral Psychology Have to Say to the Teacher of Ethics?’ in D. Callahan and S. Bok (eds.), Ethics Teaching in Higher Education (Plenum Press, New York, NY), 103–132.
Machan, T. and D. Den Uyl: 1987, ‘Recent Work in Business Ethics: A Survey and Critique’, American Philosophical Quarterly 24(2), 107–124.
Milgram, S.: 1963, ‘Behavioral Study of Obedience’, Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 67, 371–378.
Milgram, S.: 1965, ‘Some Conditions to Obedience and Disobedience to Authority’, Human Relations 18(1), 57–75.
Pastin, M.: 1985, ‘Business Ethics, by the Book’, Business Horizons 28(1), 2–6.
Rosenhan, D., B. Moore, and B. Underwood: 1976, ‘The Social Psychology of Moral Behavior’, in T. Lickona (ed.), Moral Development and Behavior (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York, NY), 241–252.
Staub, E.: 1971, ‘Helping a Person in Distress: The Influence of Implicit and Explicit “Rules” of Conduct on Children and Adults’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 17, 137–144.
Staub, E.: 1977, Positive Social Behavior and Morality (Academic Press, New York, NY).
Steiner, G. and J. Steiner: 1985, Business, Government, and Society: A Managerial Approach, Fourth Ed. (Random House, New York, NY).
Sturdivant, F.: 1985, Business and Society: A Managerial Approach, Third Ed. (Richard D. Irwin, Inc., Homewood, IL).
Trevino, L.: 1986, ‘Ethical Decision Making in Organizations: A Person-situation Interactionist Model’, Academy of Management Review 11(3), 601–617.
Valasquez, M.: 1982, Business Ethics: Concepts and Cases (Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ).
Zimbardo, P.: 1982, ‘Pathology of Imprisonment’, in D. Krebs (ed.), Readings in Social Psychology: Contemporary Perspectives, Second Ed. (Harper & Row, New York, NY), 249–251.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
F. Neil Brady is an Associate Professor of Management at San Diego State University. He has published a dozen articles in the field of business ethics, three of which have appeared in the Academy of Management Review.
Jeanne M. Logsdon is an Assistant Professor of Management at Santa Clara University. Her research on various aspects of corporate social performance has appeared in the Journal of Business Ethics, Research in Corporate Social Performance and Policy, and California Management Review.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Brady, F.N., Logsdon, J.M. Zimbardo's “Stanford Prison Experiment” and the relevance of social psychology for teaching business ethics. J Bus Ethics 7, 703–710 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00382981
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00382981