The Stanford Prison Experiment

1. The Stanford Prison Experiment By : Mike Carpenter, Karl Hancock, Michael Dickerson, Mat Harr, and Chris Phillips

2. A Quick Rundown • The Stanford Prison Experiment was a social psychological experiment that tested to see how “normal” people would react to drastic changes in their life.

3. The Hypothesis • Researcher Philip Zimbardo theorized that the situation people are placed in would determine the way that they behaved.

4. The Experiment • 24 undergraduates for Stanford University were gathered for this experiment. 12 were given the role of prisoners, and 12 were given the role of prison guards. • The prisoners were placed in cells, while the guards kept watch over the prisoners for the next 14 days.

5. Rebellion • On the second day of the experiment, one of the “prisoners” started a riot. The “guards” quickly, and viciously struck down the rebellion, and placed the instigator into solitary.

6. Lost Identities • After the riot was ended, the prisoners started to act with blind obedience towards the guards. While the guards would taunt them, and abused them. • It was as though the subjects had forgotten their old identities, and replaced them with their new rolls as “Prisoner” or “Guard”. • Even Philip Zimbardo, the lead researcher claimed that he had started to think of himself as the Superintendent opposed to thinking of himself as a researcher.

7. An Early End • Because of the constant abuse from the guards, the experiment was cut short. Instead of lasting for 14 days, the experiment lasted for only 6 days. • However, before the research was terminated, 5 of the 12 prisoners had already left because of emotional breakdowns.

8. Results • The Stanford Prison Experiment was a successful failure. The experiment did show that when the subjects were placed in certain roles, they would act accordingly. • However, the subject group was too small to make any accurate conclusions, and the results that they did acquire carried little ecological valdity.