The Stanford "Prison" Experiment is one of the most famous psychological experiments, demonstrating how illusive a touch of civilization is on all people. It took place back in 1971, but its results still cause discussion.
Instructions
Step 1
In 1971, psychologist Philip Zimbardo placed advertisements in newspapers inviting volunteers to participate in a psychological study at a cost of $ 15 a day. After the group of 24 males was recruited, the volunteers were randomly divided into two subgroups: "guards" and "prisoners". The role of the "prison" was played by the basements of the psychology department of Stanford University.
Step 2
The main objective of the experiment was to clarify the characteristics of human behavior in conditions of imposed roles and restrictions on freedom. The author of the experiment took care of creating a certain environment: the guards were given wooden clubs, dark glasses, camouflage suits, and the prisoners were forced to wear oversized robes and rubber slippers.
Step 3
The guards were not given any specific tasks, they were only required to exclude any violence, and the main duty was called regular rounds of the "prison" premises. In addition, the guards had to help keep the prisoners feeling hopeless and fearful.
Step 4
For greater authenticity, those participants who got the role of prisoners were arrested without warning on trumped-up charges, fingerprinting and photographing were carried out, and this was done by real police: Philip Zimbardo agreed with the head of the police department.
Step 5
The author of the experiment notes that the study spiraled out of control surprisingly quickly: on the second day, the prisoners staged a riot, which was brutally suppressed by the guards. Although all the participants in the experiment were educated people, representatives of the middle class, they began to show truly sadistic inclinations: the guards forced prisoners to exercise, locked them in solitary confinement, did not allow them to sleep or take a shower. Each roll call turned into a series of bullying.
Step 6
Instead of the two weeks for which the study was designed, the experiment lasted only six days, after which it had to be curtailed. Nevertheless, even in such a short time, many important conclusions were made. The experiment showed how strongly the situation and context can influence a person's behavior, change his personality, moral and ethical attitudes. The results of Zimbardo's research were submitted to the American Department of Justice. During the torture scandal at Abu Ghraib prison in 2004, Zimbardo acted as an expert in the trial against a sadistic warden.
