Stanford Prison Experiment
Hello and welcome back to another psychology experiment blog! Today I’m especially excited to discuss an experiment done by psychologist Philip Zimbardo in 1971. It’s one of the most famous studies in the history of psychology. If you still don’t know.. it’s called the Stanford Prison Experiment! Zimbardo was curious about the impact of situational variables on human behavior. The main question was: How would the participants react when placed in a simulated prison environment? In order to do this, researchers created a “fake” prison in the basement of a psychology building at Stanford University. From there, 75 undergraduate students who applied were given personality tests and interviewed. After much judgment, 24 men were chosen to act out the roles of prisoners and guards. You may be wondering – what was so special about the 24 men that were chosen? These 24 volunteers were specifically chosen because of a few factors including no criminal background, no serious medical issues, and lack of mental issues. A bonus was that each day the participants would earn $15 each day while taking part in the experiment.
If an individual was randomly selected to be a prisoner then they would get the full experience! Basically, the participants labeled prisoners in the experiment were treated as if they were real criminals. For instance, they were arrested, fingerprinted, stripped, etc. After the long process, the prisoners were taken to the prison. Upon arrival, they were asked to individually strip and give up personal possessions in return for a uniform and bedding. Each individual was identified by a number to keep information anonymous. These numbers were also present on their uniforms. Uniforms consisted of a smock with no underclothes, nylon cap, and chain wrapped around an ankle. Those who were chosen to play the role of the guards all wore khaki attire with a whistle and billy club weapon. It was also preferred that guards wore dark sunglasses to make eye contact with prisoners impossible to do. Guards were expected to discipline whenever they felt was necessary however, violence was not an option. The behaviors of both groups were observed.
Not much time passed until guards and prisoners started to feel comfortable with their specific role. This was especially true for the guards! Some guards were seen aggressively harassing a few of the prisoners. Guards did things like blast their whistles in the middle of the night to take excessive amounts of counts. Similarly, prisoners also began to reveal realistic prisoner- like behaviors. The prisoners acted as if being obedient to the prison’s rules would benefit them in some tremendous way.
Overall it was noted that guards dehumanized prisoners with physical punishment. Prisoners showed signs of stress and anxiety just after a few days. The experiment couldn’t even last the full 14 days it was expected to, but instead it went on for 6 days due to the outrageous behaviors. The Stanford Prison Experiment showed that because the guards were given a powerful role, they acted in unusual ways compared to their real life behaviors. In contrast, prisoners ended up with feelings of depression and passive moods due to lack of control.
Hope you enjoyed this week’s blog as I continued the with the theme of prisons on also my RCL blog. Until next time!