Summary Of The Stanford Prison Experiment

Improved Essays
The Stanford prison experiment studied the results psychologically of the individuals in a prison. It occurred at Stanford University in 1971, led by Philip Zimbardo. It began in the Psychology Department, turning the basement into a prison. Creating three rooms, and one room for solitary confinement. The job was offered to become a guard or prisoner for $15 a day, where they approved to partake in a 7-to 14-day experiment, also having alternates in case of problems. Zimbardo took on the role of prison superintendent, also as the lead psychologist. Looking to see does the situation control your behavior or do you mentally rise above the negative environment. Using social control, “a groups’ formal and informal means of enforcing norms” (Henslin). …show more content…
Scientifically, Zimbardo was asked what is the independent variable of the experiment? Zimbardo furious claims that scientifically they do not understand, there was a riot about to erupt soon. He then tells the guards to reassemble the prison; out of frustration they took it out on the prisoners, escalating dominance, humiliation control, etc.
Prisoner began to shut down, they started to refute against the prison. Especially prisoner 819, because of his refusal his cellmates were put to mindless work, having little support. He wanted to be removed from the experiment, during his interview he heard, “prisoner 819 did a bad thing” repeatedly (2013). Immediately thinking he has to go back, he can’t have the prisoners think that. Zimbardo again didn’t understand, because they weren’t actually prisoners, in an actual prison. He then reverted back to his original request, leaving after gaining a clear understanding that it was an
…show more content…
The first meet up consisted of John Wayne, and prisoner 416. He harmed 416, 416 was appalled, and it was horrid to look at Wayne. Dissociated from what he had done, prisoners, guards, and staff, contributed to a script. Using that script, you have a responsibility taking that role, causing degradation, but nothing harmful. John said he was cruel because he did a little experiment of his own. He used verbal abuse till they rejected. Presented other guards with a choice, no one questioned authority. Although the other guards hated to see them suffer, they never intervened. Good people will not dominate. Looking at good people in this evil place, who won? The evil place defeated the good

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    In 1971, an experiment took place in Stanford, California. It was named the Stanford Prison Experiment, lasting what was meant to be two weeks, but due to the brutality of the trial, lasted a mere 6 days. Its purpose was to conduct a study on humanity and show just how evil a human can get when given a position of power. To summarize the experiment, a random 18 men were chosen, all innocent, good people who’d never committed a crime. They were divided into two groups erratically: 9 being “prisoners” and 9 being “guards.”…

    • 1004 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Zimbardo’s account of the Stanford Prison experiment provides his intent to determine whether the power of the situation or another unknown variable sourced report of brutality in prisons. The Stanford prison experiment allowed Zimbardo to embark on a six-day prison experiment to determine the control a prison environment possesses over the human psyche. Zimbardo examines the power of situations to alter ordinary men into sadistic machines, and Szegedy-Maszak provides a logical explanation for heinous actions; however, Zimbardo and Szegedy-Maszak fail to factor in individual responsibility and the perils of dehumanization. Both Szegedy-Maszak and Zimbardo agree that certain situations maintain the power to turn ordinary people into monsters or sadists. Szegedy-Maszak states that the feelings and turmoil of the soldiers were “exacerbated by difficult living conditions and constant danger” (Szegedy-Maszak 76).…

    • 1221 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “The Stanford Prison Experiment” conducted in 1971 by Philip G. Zimbardo was looking for the answer to the question “What happens when you put good people in an evil place?”. This experiment studied the behavior of two groups consisting of young adults. The participants were given either the role of “Prison Guard” or“Prisoner” randomly. Essentially, this experiment’s goal is to find out if there is a correlation between a situation that puts people in a position of authority and power and their behavior. It is also important to note that the behavior of Philip G. Zimbardo also changed due to the authority and responsibility he had, taking on two influential roles in the experiment.…

    • 1057 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    He is studying in an unknown area, searching how his subjects react; however, I see no thesis in his work, he never tells what he expected to happen. And what is his independent variable? What is he inputting into his study to see how it may change the outcome? Zimbardo even says himself that he wanted to create a prison simulation and not a real prison. Though his work is new and interesting, I don 't see this as an experiment, rather a simulation to see how normal people react in the prison…

    • 2175 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This came at cost with the catastrophic effects the experiment brought on the participants. The Stanford prison Experiment is noted as a “classic experiment in the psychology of human behavior (Onishi & Herbert, 2016). In this experiment, Professor Phillip Zimbardo wanted to study the effects of labels and…

    • 861 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The experiment started off with the volunteers adopting their roles quickly and easily, with guards exercising control, and the prisoners being compliant. Soon, the prisoners began adopting realistic behavior where they would abandon their solidarity and seek to benefit from other inmates infringements. With the prisoners being dehumanized with pointless orders, insults, boring jobs, and physical punishment (push-ups), it was clear that the guards began to act tyrannical in their environment. On the mere second day, there was a rebellion. Prisoners ripped off their numbers and barricaded their doors to seek protection and distance to insult and mock the guards.…

    • 840 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Prisoners could no longer bear the harsh rule of the prison guards and began to have mental break downs and outbreaks. One of the prisoners had to be released after 36 hours of the operation due to his outburst of screaming crying and anger. Three other prisoners had to leave the operation also because they began to show signs of mental disorder and show early stages of depression. The experiment was shut down after six days after Zimbardo’s girlfriend also a psychologist witnessed the poor environment and the abuse of the prisoners done by the guards.…

    • 464 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Zimbardo Prison Experiment

    • 1126 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Finally, the environment was crafted to be brutal. The guards and prisoners may have reacted differently in a less brutal environment. "BBC study in December, 2001, two psychologists, Stephen Reicher and Alexander Haslam, tried to find out. They worked with the documentaries unit of the BBC to partially recreate Zimbardo ’s setup over the course of an eight-day experiment….Soon, more prisoners began to challenge the guards.…

    • 1126 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    ‘Prisoners’ on the other hand, lost their own identity in the process of becoming a ‘prisoner’. They lost sight of their own uniqueness and become like other ‘prisoners’. The also lost all sense of control because they felt unsure of how to react to the ‘guards’ and be perceived as defiant, and therefore be exposed to aggression from the ‘guards’. Finally, the loss of control within the mock prison, led them to realize they never want to lose power and control and therefore, they strive to gain control back in their lives…

    • 963 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Stanford Prison Experiment What prevented "good guards" from objecting or countermanding the orders from tough or bad guards? The good guards were unable to object or countermand the bad guards because of the fear of what it would do to the guards’ authoritative role in the eyes of the prisoners. If they showed disunity as guards the prisoners could take advantage of the unstructured and create chaos within the walls of the prison. By objecting to the bad guards, they take the risk of the prisoners not taking the guards orders seriously.…

    • 1004 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In order to obtain candidates for the experiment, an advertisement was placed in the newspaper for anyone who wanted to participate in the study of how life was in prison. Seventy-five men were interviewed for the roles, but of those seventy-five, only twenty-four were chosen. They were selected at random to take and perform the roles of either prison guards or inmates. The experiment was meant to last two weeks’ time, but at the end of just six days, it was apparent that it should come to a close. Phil Zimbardo, the conductor of this experiment, was a teacher of psychology at the university.…

    • 885 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    This piece is an outline of the Stanford Prison Experiment. To start the collection of resources, I decided to choose one that would most benefit someone unfamiliar with the Stanford Prison Experiment. It covers the general idea and procedure of the social experiment. I wanted my first source to be completely objective and to give anyone unfamiliar with the experiment an overview. This article would benefit a student writing a synthesis because it provides objective, straightforward facts.…

    • 1748 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Great Essays

    On August 14, 1971 Philip Zimbardo conducted an experiment called the Stanford Prison Experiment took off. Young men were offered $15 a day to take part in a mock prison experiment in the basement of the Stanford University Psychology Department. The men were divided into either prison guards or prisoners, this experiment was only to last two weeks. Upon the prisoners arrival at the make shifted prison they were stripped off their clothes and sprayed with disinfecting spray. Each prisoner was issued a dress as a uniform with their prison identification number on the back and front.…

    • 1406 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In 1973, Philip Zimbardo, a professor of psychology at Stanford University conducted a summer experiment showing how humans in would react towards being in closed in a prison environment. He recruited college students and offered to pay them, too many it was more interesting than a summer job. The experiment was supposed to continue for two weeks and the participants would be divided into two group’s containing prisoners and guards. As volunteering prisoners of this experiment they would have to get use to their privacy being violated, as well as being harassed. Zimbardo’s wanted to find out the how long it would take for the prisoners and guards to conform to the roles they were classified as.…

    • 921 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    But the guards won’t let the prisoners tell their parents that they are being tortured and beaten. The guards had the prisoners write letters to their parents but they never shipped the letters out so none of the letters got to their parents. The guards got so mean and rude to the prisoners that they started to have mental breakdowns because they started to I believe that they were in prison. This caused The Stanford Prison Experiment to end after 6 days instead of lasting 2 weeks. This experiment affected the prisoners so much that those prisoners had to get a therapist to help them with their problem.…

    • 869 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays