The Stanford Prison Experiment: Phillip Zimbardo

Stanford Prison Experiment: In this experiment it took a group of people and made half of them guards and half of them prisoners. The guards were given sunglasses to make them feel more powerful and have a mask to hide behind and the prisoners had chains put on their legs so they can feel a loss of freedom. In the experiment they were not given any rules to how there supposed to treat the prisoners, because these were fake prisoners they challenged the fake guards power. Since the guard’s were not given

The guard attempted to hide this situation from the people running the experiment because of them “being too soft on the prisoners.” Another guard, not aware he was being observed, paced around the “yard” while the prisoners slept, watching his “captives” and aggressively hitting them with his nightstick. A majority of the prisoners still involved in the experiment started to accept the loss of their identities and the abusive treatment they received, because of the belief that they “deserved it.” The guards formed a corrupt but unified team that used their power to inspire fear and complete control over the prisoners. The prisoners, in response, became mentally compromised and developed depression, feelings of helplessness, and feelings of psychosis.

Those designated to enact the role of a prisoner, were arrested by the Palo Alto police department, obliged to wear chains and prison attire, and were transported to the basement of the Stanford psychology department, which was transformed into a makeshift prison. Furthermore, various guards became increasingly aggressive, resulting in the experiment becoming uncontrollable. Within six days, riots broke out, psychological distresses were showcased by certain prisoners, and unruly punishment was given to the prisoners. These irrational and disreputable incidents, caused the experiment to end abruptly.

The Stanford prison experiment was a study of the psychological effects of becoming a prisoner or prison guard. The experiment was conducted at Stanford University on August 14–20, 1971, by a team of researchers led by psychology professor Philip Zimbardo. It was funded by the U.S. Office of Naval Research and was of interest to both the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps as an investigation into the causes of conflict between military guards and prisoners. The experiment is a classic study on the psychology of imprisonment and is a topic covered in most introductory psychology textbooks.

The Stanford Prison Experiment conducted by Zimbardo in the summer of 1971 to study the behavior and the psychological effects of becoming a guard and a prisoner. This experiment was supposed to be a two-week experiment, but that was not the case it only ended after six days due to the difficulties and the stress that the guards and the prisoners were experiencing. The methodology behind this experiment was to get volunteers for the study by posting it in the local newspaper. People who were interested in taking a part in the study were screened beforehand for any medical issues and criminal background. 24 College students took a part in this study and they were being paid $15 for each day. After that, the students were divided up into two different groups guards and prisoners which were decided by a flip of a coin, they were put in a prison-like environment which was in the basement of the Psychology Department at the Stanford University.

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.

In 1971 a scientist known by his students as Professor Zimbardo conducted an experiment to test if the leading cause of abusive behavior in prisons was the inherent personality traits of prisoners and the prison guards (Wikipedia. “Goals and Methods”). Zimbardo began his experiments by selecting twenty-four of his students, twelve to be prisoners and the other twelve to be the guards. His experiment was funded by the U.S. Office of Naval Research due to the interest of both the U.S. Navy and the Marine Corps interest in imprisoned conflict. The problem with this experiment wasn’t the goal; it was the issues throughout the experiment and what was done about them.

The Stanford Prison Experiment was a study conducted by Phillip Zimbardo to better understand how people will react if put into an evil setting, and if we as humans, would allow it to consume us, or overcome it with our moral values and obligations. 24 participants were selected to participate out of the 70 volunteers. Before the experiment began, Zimbardo randomly selected students, either as “Prison Guards” or “Prisoners”. Zimbardo expected it to be a boring study that would last one to two weeks, but soon realized he would need to end the experiment within six days.

Philip G. Zimbardo conducted an experiment called The Stanford Prison Experiment back in 1973. Zimbardo sets out to see the outcome if you create a false prison and get ordinary college students and make half of the students guards and the other half of the students prison inmates how will the volunteers react with their new roles. Zimbardo main points of the prison experiment were to see if the volunteers can handle their new positions. Also another main point of Zimbardo’s experiment was how much the volunteers will psychologically withhold in the new penitentiary environment by obeying order. After reading Zimbardo's experiment the volunteers did not only have short term trauma but also long term effects to their personality.

The experimentors proposed that these reactions were caused by a loss of personal identity, dependency, emasculation and acceptance sadistic treatment from the guards and the unpredictable and arbitrary control of the prison system.

August 14, 1971 was the first day of the experiment, filled with individuality and unknown being of what this experiment was to bring. The college students were picked up in a police car, mirandized, and after processing landed in the experimental jail. Though the experiment collected important data on the psychological break down over what happens when innocent people go to jail, the gruesome and eye opening transformation of each of the prisoners over just six days is shocking. Hopeless and dehumanized, each of the prisoners experienced psychological trauma of varying degrees. Towards the end of the experiment, they were only identifying as their prison number and it was almost as if they had forgotten

In the summer of 1971, an article in the Palo Alto Times read: “Male college students needed for psychological study of prison life. 15 dollars per day for 1-2 weeks…” And thus it began the infamous Stanford Prison Experiment, designed by Professor Philip Zimbardo to understand how the relationships between prisoners and guards developed overtime. Around 70 students applied, and after some extensive evaluation for psychological problems and criminal history, 24 people were deemed fit enough for the experiment. With a flip of a coin, 9 were assigned to play guards, 9 to play prisoners, and others as back-ups.

The Stanford Prison Experiment In 1971, Philip Zimbardo of Stanford University conducted an experiment called The Stanford Prison Experiment. In the experiment individuals were selected to play roles as either prisoner or guard. Also, he conducted the experiment as a real life prison and not as an experiment. The individuals that were guards had to act as real prison guards and the individuals that were prisoners had act as real prisoners.

Slowly the prisoners lost their identities as a person to their new identities and were content to replace their names with prison numbers. As the experiments continued the guards fit into their roles as the sadistic people well, the prisoners even turned against each other. However, a few inmates could not adjust to the new lives in prison and had to drop out of the experiments. (Martyn, 2008)

In 1971 Philip Zimbardo conducted the Stanford Prison Experiment (SPE) in the basement of Stanford University as a mock prison. Zimbardo’s aim was to examine the effect of roles, to see what happens when you put good people in an evil place and to see how this effects tyranny. He needed participants to be either ‘prisoners’ or ‘guards’ and recruited them through an advertisement, 75 male college students responded and 24 healthy males were chosen and were randomly allocated roles. Zimbardo wanted to encourage deindividuation by giving participants different uniforms and different living conditions (the guards had luxuries and the prisoners were living as real prisoners). The guards quickly began acting authoritarian, being aggressive towards the prisoners and giving them punishments causing physical and emotional breakdowns. Zimbardo’s intention was for his study to last for 2 weeks, however, it