Zimbardo's Experiment

Zimbardo 1974

An experiment to see whether people will readily conform to new social roles.

Procedure:

Zimbardo converted a basement of the Stanford University into a mock-prison, and allocated 21 male psychology students (who volunteered to take part) into 10 prisoners and 11 prison guards. The prisoners were unexpectedly arrested at home, stripped, deloused and given a prison uniform to wear and a number to be referred by. The prisoners were to spend 23 hours a day in their cells for two weeks.

The guards were dressed in identical uniforms of khaki, and they carried a whistle around their neck and a club borrowed from the police. Guards also wore reflective sunglasses, so eye contact with prisoners was impossible. Three guards worked shifts of eight hours each and were instructed to do whatever they thought was necessary to maintain law and order in the prison and to command the respect of the prisoners.

Ethics:

·      Lack of fully conformed consent – participants didn’t know what would happen

·      The prisoners didn’t consent to being “arrested” at home

·      Participants were not protected from psychological harm (suffered extreme distress)

·      Punishments from guards were dangerous, brutal and inhumane

·      However, it had been voluntary to get involved

·      Zimbardo rightly assured debriefing sessions – no lasting negative effects

Results:

The experiment was called off after only six days. The guards had become so brutal to the prisoners that two of them had severe nervous breakdowns; one developing a nervous rash all over his body and another on hunger strike. The prisoners became apathetic and simply did…