Zimbardo Stanford Prison Experiment Summary

On Sunday, August 14, 1971, Zimbardo and his colleagues set in motion an experiment that would have a profound impact on twenty healthy young men in the community of Palo Alto, California. Shocking the world, this experiment was to show the impact of situational factors on the behaviour of perfectly stable young men when their freedom was taken away and they were put in a prison setting. Zimbardo set up a simulated prison environment, determined the guards and prisoners with a coin toss, and proceeded to arrest the 'prisoners' by surprise. By Sunday evening, the guards were fitting into their roles of the stereotypical harsh guard, demanding that the (put in place/participant) prisoners take them seriously. Though Zimbardo had demanded of them to use no physical abuse, the guards, when they found they had a lack of authority, took it upon themselves to psychologically abuse the prisoners, making fun of them, manipulating them, and using relational aggression. Overnight, the situation intensified, so that, by the time the prisoners woke on Monday, the guards were becoming physically abusive. As each day passed, the situation worsened. When Zimbardo's girlfriend came for a visit on Thursday evening, she was shocked to tears, bringing Zimbardo to realize the horror of the situation, and bring the study to an end after only six …show more content…
However, though situational factors can be powerful, as evidenced in the study, we still have a choice. Early in the book, Zimbardo defines evil as “intentionally behaving in ways that harm, abuse, demean, dehumanize, or destroy innocent others—or using one's authority and systemic power to encourage or permit others to do so on your behalf.” (Zimbardo 5) The key word is “intentional.” We have a choice to either commit the 'evil of inaction', or even to commit the evil acts