The Stanford prison experiment conducted at Stanford University in 1971, from the 14th of August till the 20th of the same month, was a social psychology experiment orchestrated by the universities psychology professor, Philip Zimbardo, and a group of his colleagues.
The main purpose of the experiment was to record, interpret and analyse the effect that the environment and surroundings of oneself, can have on their behaviour and psychological instincts. To do so, the professors created a mock prison and through the toss of a coin divided their volunteers to be either prisoners or guards. The professors were interested in finding out whether the brutality and hostility reported amidst the guards was due to their apparent aggressive nature, or rather was the outcome of the less than favourable circumstance that they were put in.
To further explain, the primary personalities of guards and prisoners could be the reason why conflict ensues, simply because, prisoners lack consideration of the law and guards are nurtured into being domineering and ruthless.
However, if the other side of the coin is taken into account, it could be considered that prisoners and guards act in such ways because of the social environment that they are put in; almost as if they were expected to act in that manner because of the rigid power structure of prisons. It was highlighted as the difference between dispositional and situational behaviour.
Out of the 75 applications received, a shortlisted list of the 24 most suitable candidates was made, after eliminating anyone with psychological problems, medical disabilities, or a history of crime or drug abuse. The participants had had no prior introduction to each other and were paid $15 a day to be a part of this experiment. There existed clear rules that the guards were permitted to carry out whatever actions they deemed necessary to keep the peace and to gain the respect of the prisoners. There however existed a single condition that stated that no physical violence would be acceptable. Zimbardo observed the behaviour of the prisoners and guards as he was given the role of the superintendent.
The results
Very early on during the experiment, the volunteers started displaying behaviour similar to that of what was assigned to them and what actually happens in real life . They quickly adapted to acting in a certain manner, which also lead to the departure of some of the prisoners mid experiment. Guards became authoritative, prisoners started snitching, and psychological torture and abuse were also inflicted upon the prisoners. A scheduled 2 week experiment was halted after 6 days, as the severity of the situation got seemingly worse. Through the 6 day period, however it could be concluded that the simulated prison situation rather than individual personality traits was the reason for such animalistic behaviour.
Considering the manner and nature of the experiment it is obvious that it has been criticized for its unscientific methodology and also, perhaps fraud. It is said that Zimbardo instructed the guards to control and rule over the prisoners, thus its reliability has been tampered with. This experiment remains the framework for some introductory socio psychology books, but however is completely exempted from some due to its fairly questionable methods. When the volunteers were questioned about their behaviour inside the prison, many of them said that they almost couldn’t believe the way they had acted and were surprised by the heinous actions that they themselves had committed.
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