Philip Zimbardo's Experiment On Prison Life

In 1971 the Stanford University Northern California carried out one of the popular experiment in the history of psychology. The idea belongs to psychologist Philip Zimbardo where he chose to test his ideas. He spent most of his early career planning behavioral studies that focused on biological processes such as hunger and thirst. In 1960's he really started to focus on social psychology issues, such as conformity. Zimbardo wanted to know what mattered more, our moral or our environment. Philip Zimbardo's experiment on prison life showed how quickly a person can dissolve their own identity to fit into the social roles expected of them. He convert the basement of the University psychology department into prison.

The experiment is about to see people's responses to an oppressive regime to observe if they will accept it or will fight against it. He choose 24 students with no criminal record, no mental or behavioral problem.The participant were selected from the student after they pass their psychology abnormality test. Out of 24 student 12 student were randomly selected to be guard and 12 other to be prisoners. All student knew that no one is criminal there and they knew it was an experiment so they could leave whenever they wanted to. .Every volunteer were paid fifteen dollars a day. Zimbardo took a role of prison supervisor and announced that everybody must follow law and order. …show more content…
In day two prisoners started a riot. the guards take control and sriped them naked and took away the riot leader. They force prisoners to pee and poop in the bucket inside their cells. Prisoner no 8612 emotionally broke down and left the experiment within 36 hours. On day three, guards needed prisoners to sleep in order to maintain their discipline. Work life become more harder for prisoners where they were forced to clean bathroom with their