The Stanford Prison Experiment is a classic psychology study, every psychology student knows the basics of the study due to its influence. The experiment was a social study conducted in the 1970s to investigate conformity to new social roles and look at behaviour in the absence of set authority figures. Philip G. Zimbardo is best known for conducting this experiment as the lead researcher but was published under Haley et. al.
The study
A mock prison was set up in the basement of the psychology department at Stanford University
24 stable male volunteers were interviewed and randomly assigned to either prisoner or guard
Prisoners were arrested at their homes and put through regular prison procedures (clothes taken, number assigned) while guards were given uniforms and police equipment
The experiment was meant to last for two weeks
The findings
Both sides grew into their roles, some of the guards became abusive, authoritarian and forced prisoners into degrading tasks while prisoners became submissive - both forgot they were participating in an experiment
Many of the prisoners experienced extreme reactions, at least 3 had to be released early due to breakdowns
The experiment lasted only 6 days and was terminated early
The controversy
The role of Zimbardo
Zimbardo took on the role of Prisoner Superintendent and one of his students took on the role of Warden. Zimbardo (many all the other researchers) were unable to stay neutral due to their roles in the experiment as the guards would go to the Prisoner Superintendent and Warden for advice on how to control prisoners. The experiment only ended when another researcher, Christina Maslach (who was dating Zimbardo and later became his wife), pointed out the ethical issues of the study.
Fraud
In 2018, Zimbardo was exposed as a fraud! Previously unpublished recordings of Zimbardo and interviews with his participants were released suggesting that the guards in the experiment were coached to be cruel. Furthermore, some of the experiment’s most memorable moments were the result of the prisoner acting. Social desirability bias and demand characteristics had a large part to play in this study as the guards acted in a way they thought they were meant to.
The ethics
I could write a whole blog post on the ethics (or lack of ethics) in this study because this experiment was so unethical. Just to name a few issues: there was no informed consent, a violation of human rights, no protection from harm, huge manipulation on the researchers' side and fraud (as previously mentioned).
"Those are not prisoners, those are not subjects, those are boys and you are harming them" - Maslach
However, it should be noted that the experiment passed the ethics committee at Stanford University. Zimbardo did follow their guidelines and prisoners were told which rights would be suspended. Nonetheless, Zimbardo did let the experiment go too far and there is absolutely no way the experiment could take place today.
Thanks for reading!
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