How Did Zimbardo Build A Mock Prison

There they met the guards and prison warden, who was Zimbardo. The prisoners were stripped naked and humiliated by verbal abuse, the guards, however could never physically harm them. The prisoners were given identification numbers instead of names. The guards had no training prior to the experiment and were told to do whatever they thought was necessary to keep order.

(Stanford Library 2024). Not only are the punishments once again unrealistic, but they’re unethical as these are just average college students. In an article written by Brittanica, they stated that “On only the second day the prisoners staged a rebellion, guards then worked out a system of rewards and punishments to manage the prisoners. Within the first four days, three prisoners became so traumatized that they were released” (Britannica 2024). These “Prisoners”, who were really just college students who hadn’t done anything wrong, were being abused to the point of

A review on the Stanford Prison Experiment - 1) Philip Zimbardo wanted to demonstrate how the environment can change people. To this end, he launched a study called The Stanford Prison Experiment. Zimbardo was trying to show what happened when a human being was stripped of his individuality and dignity and his life was completely controlled. He also wanted to show the dehumanization and the collapse of the social and moral values that could happen to the guards immersed in that situation. The duration of this experiment was initially planned to last two weeks.

The Zimbardo prison experiment was a study of human responses to captivity, dehumanization and its effects on the behavior on authority figures and inmates in prison situations. Conducted in 1971 the experiment was led by Phlilip Zimbardo. Volunteer College students played the roles of both guards and prisoners living in a simulated prison setting in the basement of the Stanford psychology building.

Dr Philip Zimbardo created the Stanford prison experiment in 1971, the aim of this experiment was to find out the psychological effects of prison life, and to what extent can moral people be seduced to act immorally. The study consisted of 24 students selected out of 75, the roles of these 24 men were randomly assigned, 12 to play prison guards and 12 to play prisoners. The prison set up was built inside the Stanford’s psychological department, doors where taken of laboratory rooms and replaced with steel bars in order to create cells. At the end of the corridor was the small opening which became the solitary confinement for the ‘bad prisoners’. Throughout the prison there were no windows or clocks to judge the passage in time, which resulted in time distorting experiences. After only a few hours, the participants adapted to their roles well beyond expectations, the officers starting

In 1971, psychologist Philip Zimbardo and his colleagues created the experiment known as the Stanford Prison Experiment. Zimbardo wanted to investigate further into human behavior, so he created this experiment that looked at the impact of taking the role of a prisoner or prison guard. These researchers examined how the participants would react when placed in an institutionalized prison environment. They set up a mock prison in the basement of Stanford University’s psychology building. Twenty four undergraduate students were selected to play the roles of both prisoners and guards. These students were chosen because they were emotional, physically, and mentally stable. Though the experiment was expected to last two weeks, it only lasted six days after the researchers and participants became aware of the harm that was being done.

Zimbardo decided to run an experiment where he would turn a basement under the Stanford campus into a mock prison where he would interview several participants where they would randomly get assigned either guard, or prisoner. Zimbardo aimed to see how everyone pertained the roles they were placed in. Interviewing 75 potential participants, Zimbardo only chose 24 male college students which they received payments of $15/day. They had two reserves in which were the back-ups just in case any of them wanted to drop out. The prison simulation was kept as real as possible. The participants were “arrested” taken to the police station booked, finger printed, and photographed. Then being blindfolded they were taken back to the campus in the basement where Zimbardo created the mock prison with real barred doors and windows along with bare walls with small cells. Once the “prisoners” arrived, they were stripped naked and given the prison clothes and bedding. The prisoners had their own number which they were only referred to. They wore just a smock with no clothes under along with a nylon cap and a chain around their ankle. Guards were given a stereotypical khaki outfit with whistles, handcuffs, and mirrored glasses working 8 hour shifts a day with three people working each shift. Physical violence was not permitted to the guards. Observing the behaviors of the guards and prisoners, Zimbardo realized how everyone was

Out of the 24 participants half will be selected at random to be guards and the other half will be prisoners. The twelve were told that they would be called for the start of the project, but they were arrested by the orders of Zimbardo with the help of the Palo Alto police. Just like in a real arrest the twelve prisoners in the experiment were read their rights, booked, and jailed in a mock prison at the basement of Stanford University, which was wired with hidden microphones and cameras so psychologists could see what was going on within the mock-jailhouse. As the volunteer prisoners arrived at the mock-jailhouse also known called Stanford County Jail the volunteers were put through a degrading and humiliating process of a

The participants quickly adapted to their assigned roles. The guards used their authority and became sadistic towards the prisoners as they, in return, showed signs of anxiety and stress. Zimbaro himself embraced his role as the “superintendent“ and allowed immoral behavior to proceed til he was made aware of this own immoral decision. The study was terminated after six days than the planned 14 days.

Evidence includes the guards position in the article “Stanford Prison Experiment”. The quote “Other than that, the guards were to run the prison as they saw fit”, tells us that there were no rules or restrictions for the guards to follow. It meant that the guards were free to do anything that they felt would maintain order. As I said before, people change depending on the situation, or in this case, position that they’re in. It was said that a lot of the guards became sadistic.

Psychology Professor Philip Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment of August 1971 quickly became a classic. Using realistic methods, Zimbardo and others were able to create a prison atmosphere that transformed its participants. The young men who played prisoners and guards revealed how many circumstances can distort individual personalities

The Zimbardo prison experiment was set up to investigate the problem of what the psychological effects for normal people result from being a guard or inmate, and in a broader sense are normal people capable of being ‘evil.’ The research question being asked was, “How would normal people react to being in a simulated prison environment? In Zimbardo’s own words, "Suppose you had only kids who were normally healthy, psychologically and physically, and they knew they would be going into a prison-like environment and that some of their civil rights would be sacrificed. Would those good people, (when) put in that bad, evil place (have) their goodness triumph?"

In the August of 1971, Phillip Zimbardo conducted an experiment to study the psychological effects of becoming a prisoner or prison guard. This experiment turned into something much more than just an experiment, it became a lesson. The experiment and its results became known as the Stanford Prison Experiment.

What started out as a make-believe prison setting experiment quickly evolved into a real prison situation with the inmates and officers. The guards were giving the

In 1971 Dr. Philip Zimbardo, conducted the Stanford Prison Experiment at Stanford University in the basement. According to Zimbardo, the study was an effort to see how well people would react in a place of confinement, Classic Studies in Psychology, (2012). There were 24 male randomly assigned to act as guards or prisoners in the derision prison. The endeavor was of this study was at the start to last two weeks, but was ended after six days due to the immoderate action of the participants, because some guards were abusive, prisoners became passive. The participants prisoners was unexpectedly arrested at their home, fingerprinted, booked, and taken to the simulated prison by officers of the local police department. The normal setting for arrest, However, the stage was set for this experiment.